Amaranthine
by writelikeademon
Summary: Extremely AU: the vicious vampire Leo is sent to turn one of the Charmed Ones into a vampire by the Vampire Queen. He chooses Piper. Do I have your interest yet? Completed.
1. The Killer in Me

This story has been edited, by me, to not suck anymore. It's pretty much the same story.

Timeline notes: I've played the rules, but basically everything fits, in an AU sort of way. Set one year before the Charmed Ones become Charmed.

Vampire Rules: Yeah, I changed some. Just keep up, I'll explain everything.

I don't own Charmed. R.I.P. Aaron Spelling.

_October 1997_

Beneath the streets and hectic pace of San Francisco, under several hundred feet of rock and earth, the Vampire Queen rested in her chambers. Two attendants were at her beck and call, brushing her hair, painting her fingers and toes. Even within the dimly lit, smoky chambers, one could make out the deep-set frown on the Queen's face. Her Seer had come to her, throwing himself at her feet as he told her what he had seen: within the next four years, she would be killed by the Source. That did not come as a shock to her; the vampires and the rest of the demonic community had been hated enemies for millennia. What was strange was that the Source would kill her in order to protect the Charmed Ones- three good witches.

She closed her eyes, and pondered the situation at hand. More difficult dilemmas had passed her way in her last ten thousand years on Earth. Christianity had brought its crosses and holy water, scorching her skin and the skin of her children. The Source had exiled her kind from the Underworld two thousand years ago. She'd tried to get back into his favor in the late 1800s, but this only upset him, and he magically bound the Queen beneath the earth so she could not feed. Her minions brought her food, but the luxury of being waited on hand and foot did not compare to her love of the hunt. Scores of witches and vampire hunters had been after her and her kind for years, killing her precious family. Compared with all of that, preventing her death should come easily.

The Charmed Ones were completely unaware of their destiny, her Seer had told her. Their powers had been bound when they were children. Only after the death of their grandmother- within the next six months, she had been told- would they finally gain their magical inheritance. Now, with their powers still bound, would be the perfect time for a preemptive strike.

_The Charmed Ones must be killed, at least one of them,_ thought the Queen. _That way, the Power of Three cannot be awakened. But whom should I send? _Dozens of her strongest, most loyal vampires ran through her mind. None seemed right to do the job, until she remembered one particular vampire. _Leonus._ A smile crossed her face.

The Queen snapped her fingers. Her servants stopped their grooming at once and stood before the ancient vampiress. "Yes, my Queen?" the two females said in unison.

"Find me Leonus," snapped the Queen. "I don't care where he is, or what he's doing, find him immediately!"

The two females nodded as they shape shifted into bat form, flying out through the Queen's doorway. Minutes later, the two bats returned followed by a larger bat that landed in front of the Queen. The two bats perched on the Queen's throne while the larger bat shape shifted into a tall, muscular man; the vampire Leonus, or Leo. He ran a hand through his tousled blond hair, while licking a stray drop of blood from his lip. His fangs slid neatly into his gums, giving him the appearance of an average human. Obediently, he dropped onto one knee, bowing his head. "Yes, My Queen?" he asked.

"I hope I did not intrude on your dinner," she said regretfully, beckoning him to stand with her hand.

"Not at all," Leo said with a grin as he stood before her. "I was just finishing up."

"Good, for I have pressing news." Leo approached her, his eyes narrowed with curiosity. "My Seer has foreseen my death."

"I'm terribly sorry," he replied dryly, cocking an eyebrow. "I send my sympathies in advance."

The Queen smiled devilishly at her boy's wit, baring her sharp teeth. "Do not be insolent, my sweetling. As much as I adore you, upsetting me now is not a particularly wise idea." She smiled condescendingly. "You remember the last time."

His eyes dropped to his feet, and Leo's body stiffened, as he remembered the last time he had disobeyed the Queen, back when he was a young fledgling vampire. His back was still covered with scars. The vampire looked at his Queen. "So why have you summoned me, My Queen?"

"The Seer has also discovered that the Charmed Ones are the key to my demise. Have you heard of them?"

"Three sisters, the members of an old witch family, the most powerful witches in the world? I've heard of them."

"They live in the city above us, and have not yet discovered their powers. This is the perfect time to stop the prophecy before it can begin. Kill them, anyone of them." The Queen suddenly smiled. "You can even keep one if you wish."

The possibility of taking someone destined to do so much good in the world and twisting it to evil appealed to Leo immediately. "Consider it done, My Queen," vowed Leo. He bowed once more just before he transformed into his bat shape and flew swiftly from the Queen's chambers.

Piper sat on Prue's bed, not really thinking about anything and ignoring her sister as she became more and more hysterical about her date that night.

"What do you think, Piper?" asked Prue suddenly. Piper blinked, clearing her thoughts, and looked up at her sister. She was dressed in her bathrobe, holding a black halter dress in one hand, and a glittery red spaghetti strap in the other. "Which one should I wear?"

"Uh…I don't know. They're both nice."

Prue made a noise of frustration as she shot her sister a furious look. "Come _on_, Piper, this is very important. I think Roger's going to propose tonight! We've been together for almost a year and a half, it's almost expected for him to ask, and I want it to be perfect!"

Piper didn't say anything, but crossed her arms. Prue cocked her head, gazing at Piper like a lost puppy. "Oh, Piper. Don't worry. One day you'll find the right guy…"

"I'm going downstairs," Piper said under her breath, leaving Prue's bedroom and descended downstairs into the living room. She flopped on the couch and flipped on the TV, letting the sound of some infomercial deaden her mind. _It's not fair_, Piper thought jealously, and then chided herself on being immature. It _did_ seem unfair that her entire family- even Grams, for God's sake- had plans tonight.

_Why do Prue and Phoebe get the guys? _wondered Piper, feeling her green-eyed monster emerge._ Do I have the Ugly Gene or something? _She tried to recall the last time she went on a date; the last one she could think of was the Junior Prom. Well, that wasn't entirely true. But sometimes Piper thought she'd never be happy and in love, and times like this made that reality seem all the more possible.

There was a knock on the door. Phoebe ran down the stairs as fast as she could in high heels. Piper turned around and frowned at her baby sister's halter top and micromini. "Jeez, Phoebe, have heard of this new invention they have? We like to call them 'clothes'."

Phoebe rolled her eyes and opened the door. "Very funny, Piper," Phoebe said mockingly. "And where's your date tonight?"

Piper turned back to the TV, trying not to get upset. She didn't turn around when she heard Phoebe greet her date and shut the door. Just a minute later the doorbell rang again.

"Piper, could you answer that?" Prue yelled from upstairs. Piper sighed and forced herself off the couch, walking to the door. She opened it, and found Roger, Prue's boyfriend, standing on their porch with a bouquet of red roses. He smiled at her. _You know, I'm just as pretty as Prue, and I cook ten times better than her. Yet I can find no one!_

"Hi, Piper," Roger greeted her. "You look nice. Prue almost ready?"

As if on cue, Prue made her way downstairs, dressed in a form-fitting black cocktail dress. "Yes I am," she said hurriedly, taking the stairs two at a time. Prue looked so gorgeous, Piper instantly felt ashamed of her old sweater and sweatpants. "Hi, Roger. Oh, flowers! You're so sweet," Prue said with a smile, giving him a kiss. Prue turned back to Piper. "Have fun tonight, sis. Don't stay out too late." Prue grabbed Roger's arm and walked out the door.

Piper scowled at Prue as she shut the door so hard the paintings on the wall rattled. Her sister had tried to be funny, but it hadn't come out that way. Feeling ugly and depressed, Piper sat back down on the couch, ready for a fun-filled night of Julia Roberts movies and microwave popcorn.

Then the doorbell rang again. Piper looked at the door, raising her eyebrows; everyone was gone. She got up and went to the door. "Hello?" she asked when she opened the door. _Huh_, Piper thought light-headedly. _Maybe being home alone isn't such a bad thing._

A young, handsome blonde man was on her doorstep, dressed in tight blue jeans, a white t-shirt, and a black leather jacket. He grinned at her. "Hi," he said, his voice rich and smooth "my car broke down a few blocks from here. Do you think I could come in and call a cab?"

Piper blinked. She barely heard a word the man had said. "Oh, sure, come in," she told him, smiling like crazy. The man smiled and walked in.

"What's your name?" he inquired.

"I'm Piper," she answered. "What's yours?"

"Piper, what a pretty name. I'm Leo." _Leo, _thought Piper dreamily, feeling like a thirteen-year-old with a crush on the high school quarterback._ How cool! _She pointed down the hall. "Um, the phone's in the kitchen."

But he didn't go into the kitchen. He leaned against a table in the parlor. "What's a pretty girl like you doing home alone on a Saturday night?" he wondered, crossing his arms and giving Piper a smile that made her legs feel like Jell-O.

Piper laughed at that, feeling embarrassed about being alone, and delighted he was taking an interest in her. She was in her rattiest clothes, her hair in a makeshift ponytail, and she wasn't wearing a lick of makeup. "Me? I- I didn't have a date."

"But your sisters did?" Piper frowned. "How did you know I have sisters?" she asked. Leo tapped on a picture of Prue, Piper, and Phoebe that sat on the table he was leaning on.

"Oh," she said, abruptly remembering her distaste for her sisters as she stared at the photo. "Well, they're kind of guy magnets. Guys follow them around and- and stick to them." She managed to laugh a little, trying to draw Leo's attention away from her pathetic joke.

Leo walked towards her slowly, his forehead slightly creasing with astonishment. "And you don't?" he asked curiously. His warm eyes met Piper's. "Have guys sticking to you, I mean."

"No. No, not really." Now her cheeks were turning rosy. Piper laughed again, trying not to feel so nervous. "I'm not really a, uh, guy magnet." All she could do was stare in his dark eyes, and want to run her fingers along the dark scar that grazed his left cheekbone.

"Really?" Leo said casually, stroking her shoulder-grazing brown hair. "I don't think so." His eyes flickered to her soft hair for a moment. A smile too godlike to grace a mortal face blossomed across his face. "Oh, I bet you're wild on the inside. You just don't let it come out and play."

The thought was absolutely ridiculous to Piper. "You think so?" she replied slowly, huskily, as she breathed in the deep scent of Leo's cologne.

"I know so." Before Piper could do anything, Leo pressed his lips onto hers. She closed her eyes and kissed back. _I can't believe I'm doing this!_ she thought. _I just met him!_ Piper felt a carefree rush run through her. There was something about Leo, though, that seemed odd…

_What a stupid girl,_ Leo thought_. Fell for all that "wild inside" crap. They all do. Still… she's beautiful._ Leo felt her body loosen up as he wrapped his arms around her waist. He began to softly kiss her neck. Instinctively, fangs broke through his gums, pressing against the inside of lips. Without warning he bit into her.

Piper cried out as she felt a sharp pain in her neck. Hot tears stung her eyes and her neck burned, like a wound covered in acid. Her lungs felt overheated, and she couldn't catch her breath.

_Shhh,_ she heard Leo's voice in her mind_. If you're quiet, and you don't move, it won't hurt._

_Stop it, you're hurting me_, Piper wanted to cry out as she felt her body become limper and her vision darken.

_It'll be over soon, sweetheart_, Leo told her as he felt her pulse slow down. He closed his eyes, focusing on the sweet blood that had pumped through the veins of this woman and now pumped in his. Leo pulled out of her neck and held her limp body in his arms, stopping to think as she began to die.

This girl- Piper- was pretty, and he always wanted a mate. _Plus,_ he thought to himself, _a vampire Charmed One? What poetic irony._ The vampire drew his dagger from his pocket, one he'd snatched off a demon two hundred years ago. Leo cut his wrist, letting scarlet blood ooze out. Leo put his wrist to her mouth.

Piper slowly awoke from her deathly sleep, the taste of blood in her mouth waking her up. It was chilled and refreshing; the sensation of it left her lips tingling and her throat prickling. As she drank, she noticed she was no longer breathing. Her heart stopped beating. The black blanket of death was thrown upon her, suffocating her, and plunged her into darkness.

Her body, wide-awake, suddenly became limp again. Leo licked the wound on his wrist; the skin sealed instantly. _I can't for you to wake up,_ Leo thought as she stroked the girl's colorless cheek. He cradled her dead body against his and used his right arm to open the front door. From the parlor table he grabbed Piper's car keys and walked out to the driveway. Laying her down in the back of the car, he drove off into night.

Phoebe snuck through the back door Sunday morning quietly. It was six a.m., and she didn't want Grams to wake up and lecture her. But Grams was already awake, drinking coffee with Prue.

"What's up?" Phoebe said nonchalantly, hoping that she wouldn't get a lecture from both her sister and her grandmother. But they barely seemed to notice her presence.

"When I got home last night, Piper wasn't here," Grams explained.

Any thoughts of potentially being grounded left Phoebe's mind. "Oh my God," she said. "Did you call the police?"

"That was the first thing we did, Phoebe, what are you, an idiot?" snapped Prue.

"Girls, don't fight," Grams ordered automatically. She tapped her fingers on the table anxiously. She hadn't told her granddaughters that last night she had found the front door open and blood in the parlor last night. Penny had checked the _Book of Shadows_ and came to only one logical conclusion: vampire. Piper must've let one into the house and the vampire had taken her.

What could Penny tell the girls? "By the way, you three are destined to be the greatest witches of all time, and a vampire killed your sister." They'd cart her off to a mental asylum.

"What do we do?" Phoebe asked.

Grams put on a brave smile for her girls. "It's possible that maybe she went out sometime during the night and stayed at a friend's house. If she doesn't come home tonight, we'll call the police again." She sipped her coffee slowly. "For now, let's just try to get through the day."

One of the Queen's servants looked towards the sewer entrance just above her head to see Leo drop in, a body in his arms. "Leonus," the vampiress whispered furiously as he moved towards the doors of the Queen's chambers. "You cannot go in there, she's dining." She gasped at the sight of the body. "Is that-"

"A Charmed One," Leo said boastfully. "Just starting to cool." Leo glanced at the door just as a bloodcurdling scream filled the Queen's chambers. The vampire raised his eyebrows. "Tell the Queen I'm in my quarters." He carried Piper down the hall to his chamber, lying her down on his bed. Leo pulled the blankets over her, and tucked a pillow beneath her head. He wanted her to be comfortable. He sat down in his armchair across from the bed. With a wave of his hand, the candles beside the bed flickered and burned out. He began to doze in his chair; he wanted to be rested for when Piper awoke.

Penny Halliwell drew a pentagram on the attic floor in chalk, and placed a white candle at each point. She went over to the _Book of Shadows_ and began to read:

" 'Hear these words, hear my cry  
Spirit from the other side  
Come to me, I summon thee  
Cross now the great divide'."

In the center of the pentagram appeared Patty Halliwell, looking as young and beautiful as when she died many years ago. The angel looked upon her mother with great sadness. "Piper," she choked out, her eyes glistening with ghostly tears. "I saw everything. Mother, she was in so much pain."

"What happened to her? Was she killed? Or changed?" Penny asked, her throat becoming thick with tears.

"Changed, by Leo," Patty said, her teeth clenched tightly. Penny took in a deep breath. Leo was a powerful vampire. Nearly every witch feared the Vampire Queen's best killer, known more for his love of inflicting pain than his countless kills.

"What would he want with Piper?" wondered Penny.

"Who knows," Patty said carelessly. "He tricked her, he- he just came in and-" The angel stopped speaking and let out a silent sob.

Penny gazed at her daughter, her eyes filling with tears. "Now the Charmed Ones will never come to be." She took in a sharp breath. "Whatever will I tell Prue and Phoebe?"

"There's still time," Patty told her mother. "Piper hasn't fed off a human yet. The transformation isn't complete."

Penny put her hand to her chin thoughtfully. "Perhaps…I could fix a spell… to cure her. Restore her before her first kill." Penny knelt down and blew out one of the pentagram's candles. Patty disappeared from the center, and the old woman hurried over to the Book of Shadows.

Piper blinked, and opened her eyes. She was on a bed. A pillow was tucked under her head; a blanket covered her warmly. She was comfortable, but a strong, hollowing hunger filled her chest and stomach.

She heard footsteps approach her. A shadowy figure entered her line of sight. There was the sound of snapping fingers, and dim candlelight illuminated the craggy stonewalls.

"Where am I?" she asked weakly.

"San Francisco," answered a vaguely familiar voice. "Just below it, actually." The shadowy figure knelt beside her, his face slowly coming into focus.

"Leo?" asked Piper, puzzled. _What happened between the time he kissed me and now? _she wondered.

He patted her cheek with cold fingertips. "You must be confused, sweetheart."

"A little," she admitted. She was just relieved she wasn't alone.

"Let me clarify it for you. This-" He stood and gestured grandly to their surroundings- "is the Underworld. I am a vampire. You are a vampire."

_What?_ thought Piper, the only reaction she could muster under so much pain. "Vampires aren't real," she argued, her words slurred. Her head began to ache. Leo stood, moving towards the nightstand. He poured red liquid into two goblets from a pewter pitcher. The scent of blood filled the air, and while the thought of drinking it made Piper sick, the scent in the air made her hunger worsen.

Leo handed Piper a goblet. "Drink," he ordered, taking a long sip from his own chalice. Piper did the same. In an instant, her headache ceased; her hunger dulled; and a new energy and power poured into her.

Everything became startlingly clear. She was a vampire. All of her silly human emotions- jealousy, depression- faded away, leaving startling truths. She'd been so jealous of her damn sisters only a few hours ago; now she could see that _she_ was the lucky one. She'd stay young and pretty forever. A new, exciting, dangerous life had begun, and, she realized as she looked up at Leo, she got to spend it with a good-looking vampire.

"How do you feel?" Leo asked, wiping the blood from his mouth. Piper grinned at him; a sexy, seductive grin she'd never had the nerve to wear when she was alive.

"Wonderful," she told him. "But…" Could she say it? _Yes_, thought Piper, as she began to feel what remained of her naiveté fade away. "There's one thing that could make me feel even better." Piper patted the bed beside her, motioning for him to join her. His expression was slightly amused as he joined her in bed.

"-Well, she's got brown hair…kind of tall…brown eyes…attractive," Phoebe was saying on the phone as Grams walked into the kitchen.

"Whom is she talking to?" Grams asked Prue, who was drumming her hands on the table nervously.

"The police," answered Prue.

Penny looked towards Phoebe sharply. "Hang up, Phoebe," Grams ordered. Phoebe didn't listen; she was too busy listening to the voice at the other end. Quickly Grams rushed over to the phone and hung it up, her weak heart pounding in her chest.

"Grams!" Prue exclaimed, glaring at her grandmother. "What are you doing?"

"They can help us find Piper," Phoebe chimed in.

Penny sighed, pressing her hand to her chest. The older woman took a deep breath. "I hung up the phone," she began, "because the police don't need to be involved. I know how to find Piper. You girls just need to trust me." Grams dashed over to the spice cabinet, grabbed a few ingredients, and hurried out of the kitchen as Phoebe gaped at their grandmother.

"What is she not telling us?" Prue wondered to herself softly.

"What time is it?" asked Piper as she sat up in bed, pulling her sweater back on. Across from her in the armchair, Leo glimpsed at his watch.

"Six o'clock." He grinned. "Sundown."

Piper nervously began to smooth down her hair. Finally, it was time to hunt, to kill. She'd been looking forward to it all day. The need to hurt, to destroy pumped through her veins strongly, while the blood she had earlier had left her feeling hungrier than before.

"Where do you want to hunt?" Leo asked as he pulled his boots on. "I was thinking maybe downtown, at one of the clubs-"

"My house," she said, cutting him off. He gave her a skeptical look. "What?"

"Are you sure?" Leo knew that an untested vampire against a witch was not a good idea.

"Very sure," Piper snapped as she felt hunger crawl in every inch of her body. In her mind, the only way to move on with her new life was to kill what remained of it.

Grams tossed a fistful of herbs into a cauldron; it simmered softly. "With this spell, I remove Death's sting. With this spell, life I bring. Restore her…"Grams took a poppet with brown yarn hair and a P across her chest and placed her in the potion.

Two bats landed on the Halliwell doorstep, and transformed into Leo and Piper. Piper went to knock on the door, when she pressed her hand to her chest. "What is it?" Leo asked.

"I feel sick," Piper said cautiously, almost unbelievingly. With his supervampiric hearing, Leo could hear the pitifully slow, but noticeable sound of a heartbeat in Piper's chest.

Leo's head turned up to the attic window, where potion steam was flowing freely from the open window. He scowled. "Just go in, and get your sisters. I'll be back in a minute." He transformed into his bat shape, and flew up to the open window.

Phoebe and Prue sat very quietly on the couch, looking at the colorful TV screen without seeing it. The doorbell rang suddenly. "I'll get it," Phoebe said, jumping up. She opened the door and gasped happily when she saw who it was. "Piper!" Phoebe greeted her sister cheerily, throwing her arms around her. "Where have you been?"

"Around," Piper told her, lingering in the doorway.

"Well, get in here!" Phoebe said. Piper walked into the manor with a smile.

Grams tossed a handful of powder into the cauldron, not noticing the bat on the windowsill. "Well, well," Leo said charmingly as he transformed into his human form. "Whatcha brewin'?"

The old woman leaped back in shock. She waved her hand; Leo was telekinetically sent flying back into the wall with a crash. He rebounded quickly and stood.

"Your witch power doesn't work on me, old woman, and neither will your pitiful spell," Leo informed her. "Piper's gonna kill her sisters now." He took his hand and batted the cauldron off the table, spilling its contents on the floor. "Oops," he said carelessly. "Sorry about that."

In a flash of speed he was behind Grams, his hands on her neck. Her breathing was now rapid and shallow, her heart pounding unnaturally fast. "Let me make it quick for you," Leo whispered, twisting Penny's neck. The sound of cracking bones echoed through the room. With a satisfied snarl he sunk his teeth into her neck.

Phoebe couldn't stop smiling. She hugged Piper again, her hold even tighter. "I was so worried," she sighed happily. She didn't even notice that Piper's heartbeat had slowed to a stop.

Prue walked into the foyer, glaring at Piper. "Where the hell have you been? Do you know how worried we've been?"

Normally that tone would've made Piper cringe. "I'm sorry," Piper said, trying to sound like she meant it. "But I was home alone, and my friend Leo from the bank called me up. He asked me to go to a movie, and I said yes."

There was a clatter above them that sounded like pewter falling onto a floor. "Grams," Prue gasped, hurrying upstairs.

Phoebe watched Prue as she went upstairs. She then turned back to Piper, who had a calm, self-assured look on her face. "So, do you want anything, Piper?"

Piper smiled. "How about dinner?" With one hand she grabbed Phoebe by the neck and hoisted her into the air. Phoebe looked shocked as her feet dangled inches above the floor.

"Piper, what are you doing?" Her older sister's mouth shifted, and she bared pearly fangs. Phoebe shrieked.

Prue burst into the attic and screamed without making a sound when she saw a blond man at her grandmother's neck. The man looked up, his mouth covered in blood. Two puncture marks were in Grams's throat. "Oh, good," he said as he threw Grams's lifeless body away like a rag doll. "Another sister."

Horrified, Prue dashed down the hall, her heart slamming in her rib cage. She turned around to look behind her once; the man wasn't there. She ran into her bedroom and slammed the door. She turned around to lock her window- and the blond man was there, only a foot away, smiling. "This is the best part," he told her devilishly as he grabbed her shoulders and bit in to her neck. Prue screamed.

Piper dropped Phoebe to the floor. Phoebe's eyes were wide and frightened. "Please, Piper," Phoebe begged, crawling away helplessly her sister. "Don't hurt me."

"Why not?" Piper asked in a smug tone. She grinned. "All my life you've been the wild one, the spontaneous one. I want to see what that tastes like." Piper leaped onto Phoebe and sank her teeth into her neck, letting more Halliwell blood spill upon the floor. _Phoebe's blood is sweet_, her sister discovered as she gulped it down. _Does it hurt, Phoebe?_ asked Piper. Phoebe cried out in pain.

When Leo pulled away from Prue's throat, she gasped for air. Her lungs burned; her body ached. "Want to see something fun?" Leo whispered in her ear. "Of course you do." He hoisted Prue in his arms and brought her to the staircase. Prue whimpered, unable to form words. Leo smiled as he showed Prue Piper, her mouth at their other sister's throat.

Piper pulled away from Phoebe, who was shaking in fear. "Please, Piper," she moaned hoarsely. "Please! Stop it, you're hurting me."

"Isn't this fun?" Leo whispered to Prue. "Look what I've done."You _did this? _Prue thought furiously, wanting to hurt him like no other person she'd met before. "It'll be the last thing you see." Prue's vision grew darker. Leo dropped Prue's body. The girl winced as she felt her collarbone crack. _Oh, God_, thought Prue as her vision faded into black. _I'm going to die._

Piper glanced up at Leo as he came down the stairs, and then turned back at Phoebe. "Anything?" she asked. Phoebe nodded frantically, her neck dripping steadily in the floor. Piper glanced at Leo. They shared a grin.

In a moment, both vampires were at Phoebe's neck, drinking away at her blood. She screamed and cried, but no one could help her. Finally the vampire pulled away, leaving Phoebe lying on the floor, nearly dead. Her eyelids flapped uselessly.

"Poor Phoebe," Piper said softly, stroking her sister's face. "You've always felt sorry for me, haven't you? Too plain. Too gangly. Too shy. Too responsible. Too nice." Piper placed her hand on Phoebe's head. "Now I'm going to feel sorry for you."

Piper pressed her palm onto Phoebe's head, using her new power to tear through the girl's mind. Phoebe shrieked as Piper twisted her memories, obliterated her senses, ravaged her common sense and everything that made her a human being. After a moment, Piper pulled away, smiling.

"Come on, Leo. Let's go." She stood, bumping into the coffee table and knocking over the picture of her, Prue, and Phoebe. The glass shattered into a million pieces as the vampires left the manor.


	2. The Dream is Over

_October 1997_

"Victim one, female, mid-to-late twenties, severe puncture wound to the neck, major blood loss, broken collarbone-"

Prue opened her eyes, and found herself looking at a too-brightly lit ceiling. Her neck and lungs felt like they were on fire. "Where am I?" she tried to say, but no sound came out of her mouth. Several heads looked down upon her. "My sister…" she said in a strangled, barely audible whisper. "Did you find my sister?"

"Ma'am, you're at Bay County Hospital, we've got your sister," one man said. "Just try to stay calm, all right?" He placed a mask over her mouth and Prue closed her eyes.

Prue awoke again. She stood at a crystal-clear pond at the base of a waterfall. She was surrounded by tropical trees baring fresh fruit. Soft bird trills filled her ears. Staring at the waterfall, she realized that not liquid streamed from the waterfall, but pure golden light. It was mesmerizing, the way it cascaded from the rocky cliffs into the golden pool at her feet. She was transfixed by it.

"Prudence," said a voice. Rocks on the cliff shifted; the water changed course. In the golden stream appeared Penny Halliwell's face.

"Where am I?" asked Prue, turning to the visage in the waterfall.

"You're in surgery, my darling. This is merely a dream. None of this is real."

Prue stared at the outline of her grandmother's face. "Surgery? What happened?"

Grams tightened her lips painfully. "You don't remember what happened after Piper came home?"

Prue took in a sharp breath as all of her memories came back in a whirlwind: Piper returning home, Prue checking on her grandmother and finding her dead, then being chased by the blond man. He'd bit into her like a-

"That man wasn't a vampire- was he?" Prue asked suddenly. "And Piper- she can't be-"

"They are both vampires, Piper and the man named Leo," Grams said firmly. _But vampires aren't real!_ Prue thought rationally. Anger burned in her chest when she remembered what Leo had said to her. _"Isn't this fun?" he had whispered, as he showed her Piper attacking Phoebe. "Look what I've done. It'll be the last thing you see."_

"Oh my God- Grams, is Phoebe OK?"

Her grandmother's voice became cold. "Vampires have the power to manipulate the human mind to their will. Piper used her power to destroy Phoebe's."

Prue wasn't sure what her grandmother meant by 'destroyed'. "Did she kill her?"

"Death would be preferable to what she's done to her."

Prue felt her legs quake with unleashed anger. Her hands tightened into fists. "How could Piper do that to her?"

"When one becomes a vampire, the soul dies along with the body. The woman who entered our house tonight was not your sister, Prue. That was a demon with Piper's personality, her memories. Your sister is dead."

Prue wanted to cry, to collapse and curl into a ball. But she lifted her head and swallowed back her sobs. "What happens now?" she struggled to say. "What do I do?"

"I can't tell you what hasn't been written yet. But I have something I must share with you." Prue's sky blue eyes met Grams'. "When I was alive, I was a witch, as your mother was, and your ancestors. You and your sisters were destined to be the Charmed Ones, the most powerful witches in the world." The old woman's face saddened. "But Piper is dead, and Phoebe cannot help you any longer."

Prue stared at Grams disbelievingly. "Then- it's just me, then?" Prue had never been alone her entire life. There'd always been someone to take care of: Piper, Phoebe, Grams. Now there was no one. The paradise around Prue began to fade away.

"It's just you, Prue."

Again Prue woke up; this time she was in a hospital room. _Weird dream,_ she thought. She corrected herself; that dream, and what happened the night before, was too real to be a figment of her imagination.

Prue sat up slowly. A nurse was fussing over her IV. Quickly the nurse propped Prue up with her pillow. "How are you feeling?" she asked Prue. "You lost a lot of blood." Tenderly Prue brushed the bandage on her neck.

"Excuse me?" Prue and the nurse looked towards the doorway, where a man in his early twenties stood. He had light brown hair, pale skin, and warm brown eyes. The man was dressed simply, in light blue jeans, a yellow t-shirt, and a navy windbreaker. "May I come in?"

"It's eight a.m.," the nurse told the young man. "Visiting hours begin at eleven."

"Please? My sister-" The man looked at Prue, a helpless puppy-dog look in his eyes. _Trust me_, he mouthed. Prue wasn't in the mood to trust anyone right now; but she had a feeling about this guy. The nurse looked at Prue, who nodded.

"Could you excuse us?" the man asked the nurse. Looking annoyed, she left the room.

"OK, so who the hell are you?" Prue asked sharply.

"I'm Gary- Gary Allen." Awkwardly he handed her a bouquet of flowers. "You like roses." Prue nodded. She took them gently, and set them beside on the table. "I know you've just been through something awful-"

"You don't know anything," she snapped.

Gary raised his eyebrows. "Your sister didn't become a vampire, come to your house with Leonus, and maim your family? I must have the wrong room." He walked towards the door.

"Wait!" Prue said. She narrowed her eyes at the stranger; who was this guy? "How did you know-"

"I saw it," Gary answered quietly. "I see things before they happen- I have premonitions. I'm a witch."

"You're a witch," she said unbelievingly. God, in just a few hours, her life was turned upside down! Prue listened as the man continued, "I wanted to help you. I tried to come to your house, to- to do something about the vampires before they could harm you, but I was too late. This morning I came to the hospital, and, well, here you are." He shrugged helplessly.

Prue continued to stare at Gary. "I- I just can't believe this is happening," she said. "Piper wasn't a killer."

Gary walked closer to the girl. "Your sister, her name was Piper?" Prue nodded. "She doesn't exist anymore. What you saw last night was a demon. Leo- the man, I recognized him- infested her with a demon."

_That's what Grams said_, thought Prue. "So, that thing wasn't Piper."

The man sighed. "Well- not really. The demon infests your sister's soul with evil. What you met last night was your sister, if she had no inhibitions, no anxiety, and really enjoyed hurting people." Gary paused. "I bet she said things. Things she would have never said in life, never have brought up. Now she used them to manipulate you."

Prue remembered what Piper had said. _"Poor Phoebe," Piper had said. "You've always felt sorry for me, haven't you? Too plain. Too gangly. Too shy. Too responsible. Too nice."_ She looked at Gary, tears glinting in her eyes. "This is impossible. My sister was not a killer."

"Your sister is dead," Gary informed her. He watched as Prue sat there silently, tough as stone. The tears in her eyes never fell. Gary couldn't even fathom a guess at what she was thinking.

"How do you know all this?" she asked him. Gary began to finger the crucifix around his neck.

"The Allens, they date back as far as the Halliwells- your family. We've been hunting vampires since the War of the Roses."

"You're a vampire hunter?" Prue couldn't believe this gangly man-child was part of a vampire hunting clan. Maybe if he was playing Dungeons and Dragons, sure.

He hesitated. "Well, I've never really been a fighter. I'm much better with the magical aspect of fighting. I can do spells and simple healings; little things. I'm no Charmed One."

"Well, I'm going to need your help," Prue told him. Her face was like a block of ice, cold and unflinching. "Leo killed my sister, killed my grandmother, turned my sister and nearly killed me too, and I'm not gonna let him get away with it. Those sons-of-bitches vampires are gonna pay for what they did to my family."

The next day, the nurse pushed Prue in a wheelchair down the hall, towards the hospital's psychiatric ward. The doctor explained everything to Prue as they went down the hall.

"We've treated her injuries, but her mind is-" The doctor seemed to be searching for the right word. "-damaged. We've done an MRI, a CAT scan, and had both a psychologist and neurologist assess her. She's been diagnosed with a very severe form of schizophrenia. She's been having delusions of people attacking her. Her speech patterns are disorganized, and yesterday in a group setting, she became violent with another patient and had to be restrained." The doctor turned to Prue, his face emotionless. "The staff's general opinion is that your sister should be institutionalized."

Prue's voice was barely more than a whisper. "Well, it's my opinion that counts, isn't it?" The nurse wheeled Prue through another corridor. They entered a stark white room where Phoebe sat on a bed, looking at the ceiling as if there was something there no one else could see.

"Will you excuse us?" Prue asked the doctor and nurse. Prue uneasily pushed herself over to Phoebe's bed as they left. She took her sister's hand. "Hi, Phoebe."

Phoebe looked at Prue, her eyes focused and bright. "Did you get hurt, too?" Her voice had a naïve, little girl quality in it.

"Yeah, I got hurt," Prue replied.

"They bit me. Here." Phoebe touched her neck bandages. "Her teeth were so sharp, and she hurt me so bad…" Her eyes began to tear up and spill over.

"Phoebe…" Prue could hardly find words to say to Phoebe- it was like talking to a toddler. "Do you wanna go home?"

"Home. They hurt me at home. Do you like ice cream? Because they gave me some. Yeah, mmm hmm, it was yummy. Strawberry, all pink like sunsets. Piper doesn't like the sun. It makes her shrivel up."

Prue was surprised by the sudden subject change. "Um, yeah, she got sunburned one time," she replied slowly, "When we went to Disneyland. Remember how sunburned we all got?"

"No! Vampires get burnt," Phoebe insisted like a child. "That's why they hunt at night." Phoebe's demeanor suddenly changed; she looked at Prue suspiciously, her whole body becoming taut and rigid. "Did they send you here? To watch me? Did Piper send you?"

"No, Phoebe-" Prue began.

"Liar! Bitch! Stop it! I won't let you hurt me!" Phoebe slapped Prue's face. Two nurses came into the room, with restraints for Phoebe. Tears spilled over the woman's face. "I'm sorry, Prue…I'm sorry…" Prue stared at Phoebe until a nurse grabbed her wheelchair and took her out of the room. She could still hear Phoebe screaming down the hall.

"Miss Halliwell?" the doctor said, walking up to her.

"Do I have to sign something?" Prue asked solemnly. She couldn't forget what Grams said. "Piper destroyed Phoebe's mind." _Leo_, thought Prue angrily, thinking of the man who made her sister a demon. _If I see you- or Piper- ever again, I'll kill you._

Within a few days, Prue returned home. Phoebe was transferred to a psychiatric facility twenty minutes from the manor, where Prue promised to visit every other day. Gary drove Prue home and helped her into the house.

"Where are you going?" he called as Prue hurried upstairs. She didn't answer, but opened the attic door. She went to the toy chest and began to rummage through it until she found an old book that read _The Book of Shadows_. She closed the toy trunk and sat on top of it, looking at the book.

Gary came up the stairs, wheezing. When he saw the Book, his eyes lit up. "_The Book of Shadows_," he whispered. "I didn't think it was real."

Prue blew the dust off the cover, and ran her hand over the symbol on the cover. She opened the book and flipped several pages, not entirely sure what she was searching for. Finally, she found something. She squinted at the page; the words were changing, the letters skipping and reforming on the page. Instead of the spell being about three sisters calling upon ancient magic, it was for one witch; the Power of One. She began to read.

"Hear me now, the words of the witches,

the secrets that we hid in the night.

The oldest of gods are invoked here,

the great work of magic is sought.

In this night and in this hour,

I call upon the ancient power.

Bestow your greatest power on me,

the eldest of the sisters three."

A gust of wind blew through the attic; Gary stumbled and fell back into an old armchair. Prue shut the Book, dust flying around her face. She sneezed, and suddenly an old dollhouse went flying off its shelf onto the floor in a splintery crash. Prue looked at the dollhouse in amazement. "Is that-" Prue began.

Gary's eyes were wide; obviously he wasn't used to such powerful displays of magic. "Your magic," he cut her off. "You're telekinetic."

She nodded, surprised. Prue blinked, shaking off her surprise. "Yeah," she answered. "But we have more important things to do. Finding Leo and Piper. Curing Phoebe." Prue left the room. Gary followed.

September 2001:

Paige Matthews sat down at the bar. She breathed in deeply; she'd been dancing so hard she'd forgotten to breathe. Some random guy had pulled her over to dance, and there was no way to describe how his magnetic pull.

"That was fun." The same guy, blond and dressed in leather, sat on the stool next to her. He grinned at her. "Next song, you wanna…"

Paige glanced down at he watch and grimaced. "Sorry, I can't. Things to do in the morning. It's already midnight." She stepped away from the bar, but the man grabbed her arm.

"Please?" he said innocently. He winked at her.

She laughed at his sweet approach. "I really need to get home," she explained. "I need to call a cab."

"Let me at least give you a ride," he offered.

Paige paused. She didn't know this man really well, and while he was cute, she knew you can't trust every cute guy who comes along.

The man's sweet blue eyes drilled into her head like needles. _I could really use a ride_, he thought persuasively.

"I could really use a ride," Paige admitted. She smiled and left the club with the man. "You never told your name," Paige said to him.

"It's Leo," he said, wrapping an arm around Paige. The lights of the alley were flickering. _Wow, this alley is…dark and perfect for rapists_, Paige thought suddenly.

"On second thought-" Paige pulled out of Leo's hold. He continued to smile at her, although now his smile faltered slightly.

"What? You thought you could just use me?" Leo said angrily. Paige backed away from him slowly, and began to fall into something. She turned around, and she was in Leo's arms.

"How-" Paige gasped, until Leo grabbed her swiftly, faster than any human. Paige stopped moving and tried not to shake, trying to remember how to disarm herself the way she'd learned in her Self-Defense class.

"Just kidding about the using, sweetheart," Leo breathed. He stroked the pale skin of her neck. "You've got beautiful skin," he said absently. The man placed his finger on her neck, as if he was feeling for her pulse. Paige turned to look at him, and found two large, ivory fangs growing from his gums. She gasped and tried to break out of his hold, stomping on his feet, elbowing him in the chest. It was useless; he was far too strong.

"Nice neck," he commented casually. "I bet you're a screamer." Leo sank his teeth into Paige. She screamed until she became dizzy, passing out instantly.

From the shadows emerged Piper. To anyone who knew her while she was alive, she was unrecognizable. She was dressed in black leather pants, while a crimson tube top hugged her chest. Her eyes were rimmed with sooty eyeliner and her lips were stained strawberry red, standing out against her milky-white skin. She watched Leo with wide eyes as she played with a strand of chestnut hair.

"You're such a tease," she commented as Leo fed. "You always play with them, talk to them, tease them." She watched her lover drink, looking fascinated. "I just like a good meal."

"The games make it more fun," Leo said with a satisfied grin as he pulled away from the girl's neck. "The sweet talk, the compliments, and then the kill. You remember, don't you?" Piper smiled, recalling the day Leo ended her old life and gave her a new, more fun one. Leo held out Paige's limp body. "Want some?"

Piper moved towards the girl. Leo tilted back Paige's neck for her. The vampiress grinned, exposing her fangs. But before she could feed, she screamed in pain as holy water was thrown on her bare shoulder and arm. Her skin sizzled and burned. Leo dropped the girl and turned around, to see what fool had just harmed Piper. He frowned; he knew this fool all too well.

"Keep away from her," Prue commanded. To anyone who had known her four years ago, she was also unrecognizable. Muscular arms held a stake and a bottle of holy water. Her brown hair was long, stringy, and uncombed, held back by a black bandanna. She was dressed in tattered jeans and an old black t-shirt, the perfect picture of a vigilante vampire hunter. "Or I'll kill you both."

Piper grimaced. "Oh, look, St. _Prude_. Patron saint of the lonely and annoying."

Leo growled at her, but backed away from his meal, putting his arm around Piper. "Come on, Prue, you know you could never kill us," he said reasonably. He reconsidered his words quickly. "Well, you might kill me, but not Piper. How could you kill your own sister, your own blood?"

"She's not my blood, Leo. The second you changed her, she became your blood." Prue's voice could have frozen water. Bitterness crept into her tone. "And apparently it's easy to kill a sibling. You two _did_ kill Phoebe."

"We didn't kill Phoebe," argued Piper, her tone becoming sour. Just talking with her holier-than-thou sister put the vampiress on edge. "She's alive."

"She may be _alive_, but not _living_. She's sitting a mental hospital, being attacked by the demons you put in her head," said Prue harshly.

"It was just a bit of fun," Piper replied, sickeningly sweet.

Leo rolled his eyes and touched a finger to his mouth, wiping away a bit of blood. "Get out of here, Prue. We don't interrupt you during your dinner, do we?" He tauntingly sucked the drop of blood off his finger. Piper grinned.

Prue held out her stake. With a squint of her eyes, the stake soared through the night air, landing right against Leo's chest. The vampire stopped moving warily. If it went through his chest, he'd be dead.

"Stop it, Prue," Piper said quickly, biting her lip with worry. "We'll leave, we'll leave." Prue hesitated, and squinted again. The stake fell to the ground.

"Don't try that again, Prue," Leo spat as he kicked the stake away, his eyes deadly. "Unless you want fangs in your throat- again."

"I dare you," Prue snapped as she picked up the girl's body. "I swear to God-"

Leo sneered at Prue. "There is no God, Prue. Just remember that. It's just us against you. And we always win." The two vampires shape shifted into their bat form, narrowly flying over Prue's head and out of the alley.

Piper and Leo reformed just outside a nightclub in downtown San Francisco. When Piper and Leo walked into the bar, it was packed. It was filled with vampires feeding, talking, fighting. In the corner was a child, locked inside a large birdcage. Some vampires poked at her, touched her. The little girl cried and shook the bars weakly.

Piper stuck her hand in the cage, smiling, but Leo pulled her back. "Later," he promised, taking her away.

A few vampires were sitting at the bar, close to the rear exit. "Excuse me?" Leo asked them coldly. The vampires turned to him, scowling, but their expressions changed when they realized the vampires they spoke to were none other than Leo and Piper Leo, who had been turned during the Dark Ages, had built up quite a reputation, as had his mate Piper in her first four years as a vampire.The two vampires hurried away, muttering apologies.

Piper settled herself onto a stool as Leo headed behind the bar, grabbing them two glasses. "I'm sick of Prue interrupting our meals, waving around her cross like she's a goddess," Leo said, infuriated. "Let's kill her."

"Now?" Piper asked tiredly. She licked her fingers and placed it on the burnt flesh where Prue had sprayed her holy water. The skin began to heal slowly. "Another night."

Leo slammed the bottle of blood on the table, shattering the glass. Several vampires looked in their direction. Piper jumped up as a piece of glass nearly scraped her cheek. "Always another night," he said, his voice soft but temper nearing its breaking point. "You say that, and nothing comes of it!" His voice hardened and his hostility grew. "Sometimes I think you still care about them. Prue _and_ Phoebe."

Piper glared at him, her eyes narrowed and malicious. "How dare you," she spat. "They're just humans." She looked at Leo, who was tired, humiliated, and looking for a fight. The vampiress sipped from her glass, and it brought a rosy flush to her cheeks. "I didn't eat tonight, and I don't feel good." She pouted her lips. "Please don't yell at me." She swiveled her bar stool away from him, facing the wall. "I might just leave."

The humbled vampire stepped around the bar, wrapping his arms around Piper. "I'm sorry, Piper," Leo said. She sighed. "Please, _please _don't be mad. You know I'm a terrible, terrible person. Forgive me?"

Piper let a smile crawl onto her face as she turned to face Leo. "Only if you're a very good boy from now on."

Leo leaned into her, putting his face near her ear. "What if I'm a very bad boy?"

The vampiress laughed and stood, transforming into a bat. She flew out of the bar, with Leo just behind her.

Prue attempted to carry the girl out of the alley. Waiting on the street was her van. "Gary!" she called out. The man got out of the car, carrying the victim's legs with Prue. They laid her down in the back of the van and slammed the door shut. He climbed into the driver's seat. "Back to the manor-now," ordered Prue as she jumped in the passenger's seat and closed the door.

"Piper and Leo?" asked Gary, nodding his head to the girl in the back. Prue nodded.

"God, Gary, I can't believe I let them go," Prue said, furious with herself. " I had Leo. I could've slayed them- but I didn't."

"I'm sure you'll get the opportunity again," Gary replied, keeping his eyes on the road. "No one ever said the vampire slaying business was easy." He gave her a small smile. "And those who did got themselves killed."

Prue nodded as she stared out the window. It was nearly twelve-thirty, but people were still on the streets, walking and laughing. _Was I like that?_ She thought back a few years. When she received her power, she immediately started training in martial arts and training to improve her magic. In four years, her telekinesis was perfect, and she could kill just about any vamp. But she'd been so wrapped up in slaying that she was fired from the museum, and Roger had called off their engagement. She hadn't dated since. She slept during the day and hunted at night, leaving no time for a real life or job. She and Gary had taken out another mortgage on the house. The only time she left the house was to visit Phoebe in the San Francisco Psychiatric Hospital last week, and she seemed to be becoming crazier every day. But at least she was a good vampire hunter; she saved dozens of lives every night. That made up for having no life. _Doesn't it? _wondered Prue.

They pulled into the driveway of 1329 Prescott Street. Gary and Prue hauled the woman up the front steps and into the house. Prue ran into the kitchen as Gary set the victim down on the couch, assessing her injuries. She had lost an average amount of blood for someone attacked by a vampire; she'd live.

Prue came back, holding a jar of something called VAMPIRE BALM and a first-aid kit. Gary took some of the balm and rubbed it on the woman's wound. Instantly the redness around the holes faded and they slowly began to close. Then he took a compress from the kit and put it on her neck, sealing it with medical tape.

"She'll be fine," he told Prue. "She didn't loose that much blood." The woman stirred; she slowly opened her eyes.

"Hi," Gary greeted her gently. The girl blinked several times. "What's your name?"

"Paige. Paige Matthews," the girl replied weakly but steadily. "Who are you?"

"Gary Allen. This is Prue Halliwell. We brought you here after you were attacked. How do you feel?"

The girl looked confused for a moment, then her eyes widened. "You mean- that man- really was a _vampire_?"

Prue nodded. "But vampires aren't real!" Paige argued.

"Sure they are," Prue told her coolly. "Vampires, demons, all of them. They're disgusting monsters. They feed off the living, then kill them, or make them their slaves. Sometimes they sire them, make them one of their kind. They're all obsessed with sex and murder, and will do anything to eliminate human kind."

"Oh, Prue, what a lovely picture you've painted," Gary quipped. Prue didn't smile. The man gave her a disbelieving look. "Come now, Prue, not ALL vampires are quite as… ruthless as that."

"Sure they are. Especially when it comes to Leo and Piper," she said coldly, saying their names as if it physically hurt her to make out the syllables. "They're evil. Speaking of which, I should be out hunting. Can I have the keys?" Gary tossed them to her. Prue caught them and left the manor without another word.

"She's just a burst of sunshine, isn't she?" Paige cracked. She was very pale, Gary noticed. "Are you all right?" he asked. "Everything about vampires- it's hard to learn in one night."

"I'm OK. Actually, this all makes sense," Paige told him. "I've known people who went partying, then I never see them again. I guess they got killed or vampirized."

"Vampirized isn't a word," Gary corrected automatically. "When a human becomes a vampire, they're sired. And the person who is sired becomes the sire's childe."

Paige nodded and sniffed the air. "God, what reeks?" she asked.

He held up the jar of VAMPIRE BALM. "Sorry, it doesn't have a lovely aroma."

"What's in it?"

"Angelica, lemon balm, cinnamon, coconut, garlic, horseradish," he recited. "Magical herbs."

"Magic?" Paige wondered, looking amazed. "Don't tell me wizards are real, too."

Gary shook his head. "Not wizards- witches are real. Proud witch for twenty years. I do spells, potions, you name it. So's Prue."

"Do you have, like, powers?"

"I can see the future."

"Cool. You couldn't happen to tell me this week's lottery numbers, could ya?"

He smiled; Paige guessed he didn't do it often. He couldn't've been much older than she was, but the worry lines around his eyes were deep. "No, I don't see those kind of things. I usually see a lot of death." One of the ends of the medical tape was unsticking on Paige's neck. He pressed his finger on it, making it lay flat. Suddenly he froze, eyes hazy.

"Gary? Gary!" Paige said fearfully as she joggled his arm. He couldn't hear or feel her touch. Instead, he was lost in a horrifying black-and-white world. An earthquake rocking San Francisco, destroying everything in its path. From it rose a pale woman with ebony hair and eye, her mouth stained crimson: the Vampire Queen. Then he saw Piper and Leo laughing as they watched demons and vampires ravage the city. He saw his face, his face and Paige's- but fangs emerged from their mouths, as their lips dripped with blood. A large stone tablet covered in an ancient, unreadable text.

Suddenly Gary was knocked out of the premonition. Paige was shaking him. "Gary? Are you OK?"

He turned to her, frightened. "No," he replied slowly. "No, not really."


	3. History Lesson

_Very quiet tonight_, Prue noticed as she walked through Candlestick Park. _Too quiet._ She checked her watch; it was one-fifteen, and the sun would rise in about five hours. _Maybe most of the vamps have gone home._

However, she was wrong. Out of the shadows came a trio of vampires, circling her like a vulture circles its prey. Prue held up her cross and stuck it before her, her eyes on the apparent leader of the vamps. With a whimper, the vampire kicked it out of her hand and lunged at her. The hunter studied their faces; she'd never met these vamps before. She hoped that meant they were young, weak bloodsuckers.

She gave him a swift punch to the jaw, knocking him backwards into a tree as she pulled out her stake. Another vamp tried to come at her from behind, but Prue knew the attack well. She turned around and staked him in the heart. He collapsed into a pile of dust.

The other vampire rebounded and came back at her, growling. She waved her hand. A bare tree branch snapped off an old oak and rammed through the vampire's chest, instantly killing him.

Fear evident on his face, the other vampire transformed into a bat and flew away. Prue considered going after him, but decided not too; she was exhausted. Her cell phone rang. She went into her bag and pulled out her cell. "What is it?" she asked, knowing only one person ever called her.

"Had a premonition," Gary answered. "Heavy stuff."

"Like, 'some Regular Joe dies' kind of heavy, or 'the apocalypse is nigh' kind of heavy?" she wanted to know. Prue could hear Gary snicker.

"Did you kill something? You're awfully chipper."

"Two vamps just now," Prue said, getting irritated. "So _what's_ _happening?_"

"Well, what I saw was very high on 'the apocalypse is nigh' scale," he told her. "I'll wait to get back here to explain. Hurry, we need to figure out what's going on."

"Be there in ten," she replied and ended the conversation. She raced across the park back to her van.

Leo and Piper flew into their chambers, and transformed back into human form. The room was much grander than Leo's old one; the Vampire Queen gave them their own private apartment, as a reward for so many kills.

"So, are you going to be bad tonight?" Piper asked Leo throatily, tracing a crimson fingernail along his chest.

He grinned enticingly. "I'm bad every night, sweetheart," Leo said with a growl, pushing Piper back onto the bed. She laughed a little, her brown eyes filled with wicked delight. Before their lips could meet, someone cleared their throat. Both vampires turned to the woman in their doorway, adorned in the scarlet shade worn by servants of the Queen.

"Excuse me," the vampiress said coldly, "but the Queen wishes your presence in her throne room." Leo glared at the attendant as he got off of Piper. "Now," the vampiress said urgently.

Leo rolled his eyes. "Come on, Piper. Let's see what the Queen wants." He grabbed her hand and shoved the attendant out of their way.

The Vampire Queen smiled as her two favorite children walked into her chambers. "I hope I wasn't interrupting anything," she greeted them.

"No," Piper answered with a hint of a sigh. "Not yet, at least."

"You may get back to your plans as soon as I am finished," the Queen told them. "But first, I wish to share with you my new plan." Leo struggled not to laugh. The Queen was always coming up with elaborate schemes to free herself from the Underworld. Ever since the Source bound her to the Underworld, only several years after Leo was turned, the Queen had tried to escape from the granite confines the vampires lived in. However, every single one of her efforts had failed.

"Have you ever heard of the _Armai'ach_?" asked the Queen. Both vampires shook their heads. "It's a stone tablet, upon which a spell is written, a Releasing Ritual. With it, I can be freed from this cold granite prison." Her face softened into an innocent, serene look. "Fetch it for me, my sweetlings."

"Of course, my Queen," Leo answered.

"Where do we find it?" inquired Piper.

"I asked my seer to scry for it," the Queen replied. "But he could not find the answer. So I asked him to go out and greet the morning for me." The Queen smiled as Piper nodded uneasily and clung closer to Leo. She was a master at striking fear into her children's hearts.

Leo was silent for a moment, his eyes deep in thought. "Prue would know," Leo told his Queen. "She has a witch friend, a seer. He probably knows where it is."

The Queen nodded. "Find them. Take the information from them, and then retrieve the tablet." Piper and Leo nodded, and walked out of the Queen's chambers.

"So there's an earthquake in your vision-thingy? And San Francisco is covered in vamps?" Paige said nervously. Gary nodded as he poured three cups of chamomile tea. "Your visions don't _always_ come true, do they?"

"Rarely. That's why I get them. So we can prevent the event from happening." He handed Paige a teacup, and the girl took a sip. "Prue said she'd be here soon."

"So she hunts vampires? How lonely." Paige seemed to reconsider her words. "Actually, it sounds perfect for her. Even the vampire who tried to kill me had better social skills than her. He told me I had a nice skin."

Gary smiled a little, hiding it behind his cup of tea. "You can show me your smile," Paige told him reassuringly. "Prue isn't here to beat it off your face."

"I know. It's just that- I shouldn't be laughing. Neither of us should. Prue's gone through a hell of a lot. Four years ago, her sister was changed into a vampire, and she used her mental powers to drive sister insane. Her sister, she, uh, is the lover with the vampire who attacked you. He killed their grandmother."

Paige was silent for a moment, trying to say something interesting. _What do you ask a witch?_ she wondered. "So, how did you get into the vampire… business?"

Gary looked down into his teacup, speaking rapidly. "I was born into it. My family's hunted vampires for hundreds of years. But… a few years ago, my sister was turned. Killed my parents and my fiancé. Not long after that I saw Prue in a vision, and met her after her sister was turned. We began working together." Gary glanced up and smiled timidly at Paige. "Not very exciting."

_Great_, Paige thought. _Let's ask all the questions that bring up painful memories!_ "Well, at least you have a personality, unlike Prue, the Pink Ranger wannabe." Prue came through the back door then.

"What did you see?" Prue said immediately.

"Hello to you, too," Paige remarked dryly.

"Tea?" Gary said, holding up a cup.

Prue shook her head as she sat down at the table. "Well," Gary began, "there was an earthquake, essentially ripping the city to shreds. Piper and Leo just… being evil. Quite the shocker, it was." His mouth twitched upwards.

"Anything else?" Prue asked, ignoring his joke.

Gary drummed his fingers on the table. "Well, actually," he began, "I was there, with Paige. And…we were vampires."

"What! Why didn't you tell me that before?" Paige exclaimed.

"What's she still doing here?" Prue wanted to know, barely looking at Paige.

Paige glared at Prue. "Hey, I was in his vision. Obviously I matter." Prue rolled her eyes and turned back to Gary. "Continue?"

"That's it." Gary sighed, then quickly added, "Wait, there was one more thing- a stone tablet. It had writing on it, perhaps Phoenician, or Arabic?"

Paige was silent for a moment, trying to recall something she'd read that morning in _The Bay Mirror_. "Gary," she began. The man looked at her. "The tablet- is it from Israel?"

Gary shrugged. "It might be. Why?"

Paige grabbed the newspaper that sat on the edge of the table and flipped to the Arts section. "Here," she said, pointing to a photo of a broken tablet that sat among other Middle Eastern objects. "This tablet is from Israel. It's being delivered to the Museum of Art tomorrow. Maybe this is what you saw?"

From his pocket, Gary pulled out a glasses case. He put his spectacles on and studied the photo. "The _Armai'ach_," Gary said thoughtful.

"The armay what?" Paige asked, confused.

"It's a stone slab that has several very old spells written on it, one of them a Releasing Ritual." Gary looked at Prue tensely, and then turned back to Paige. "You see, the Vampire Queen is bound under the earth, trapped. But this ritual would release her, leaving her free to… do very unpleasant things."

Prue's face was rigid and emotionless as usual. "We need to get the _Armai'ach_ before any vamps get their hands on it. When does the exhibit open?"

Paige glanced down at the newspaper. "Monday, so Sunday night-"

""We break in, steal the stone," Prue cut her off sharply. "Then we have to figure out a way to destroy it."

Paige rolled her eyes. _Oversimplify much?_ she wondered. Nevertheless, she and Gary agreed to the plan.

"What do you hear?" Piper asked Leo as they stood outside the manor, listening intently to the conversation within.

"The _Armai'ach_ is at the Museum of Art," he said with a smile. "And they're going tomorrow night."

"Excellent," Piper said with a satisfied smile. "Then we can kill them." Piper looked up at the lightening sky. "C'mon, Leo, let's get out of here." They shifted into bats, and flew away.

Leo and Piper returned back to their home. "Soon we'll be able to kill your sisters," Leo told Piper as they undressed and slipped into bed. "Then there will be no more Halliwells left."

Piper looked at Leo strangely as she slipped under silk sheets. "What's that glare you're giving me about?" he asked fiercely. Piper sighed.

"I was just thinking," Piper said in a thoughtful tone. She traced a dark scar that sat along Leo's left cheekbone. "You killed me and my grandmother; tortured my sister; and you love to torment Prue whenever she's near. Why? I know the Queen put you up to it, but it's more than that. What did the Halliwells do to you?"

Leo was silent, slipping into bed beside Piper. He waved his hand; the room became dark. "Nothing at all." He kissed her silently. "Now let's sleep." She did as he requested. Leo turned over, and slowly drifted into sleep. Vampires usually didn't dream; upper-level demons had no dreams at all. The rare dreams they had were memories of the past. As Piper slept peacefully, Leo dreamed of a life he left behind long ago.

Douglas Atkins was born September 27th, 1424, to a farmer and his new bride. His father taught him everything he would need to know; how to raise crops; how to care for animals; how to live in God's way.

The young boy never really understood that last lesson until he was six years old, and his mother died of smallpox. Douglas was heavyhearted, until he saw that God was sending him a sign; if you live in the way of God, you shall see your mother again when you go to heaven. Douglas vowed to remember this lesson and become a follower of Christ.

He became a priest in his small hometown, living with his father until his passing. Douglas was a commendable priest, and everyday he promised to love God until his heart stopped beating. And he did.

England, 1452:

"Ten hail Mary's, and an act of contrition," Douglas told the confessor. The man nodded and hurried out of the cathedral, calling back, "Thank you, Father!"

Douglas smiled, always happy to help, and went to his study. He lit a candle, as the sun had just about gone down. He wished to write his sister a letter, then go home and prepare his dinner. Just as he picked up parchment and a quill, however, he heard footsteps in the church's hallways. The hour was late; who could possibly be there?

Father Atkins walked through the halls back to the confessional, where a hooded figure sat. "Can I help you, mistress?" Douglas asked gently.

"Father, I wish to confess my sins," she said in a heavily accented voice sweeter than an angel's.

"The hour is late," he told her. "Perhaps you could return tomorrow?"

"But I must confess, or God will damn me!" she hissed fearfully. "The things I have done…" She lowered her head sadly. Douglas took pity upon the woman; he could tell her sins truly pained her.

"Tell me of your sins, my child," Douglas agreed as he sat down in his chair. The woman removed her cloak.

She was a woman more beautiful than any Douglas had even seen. Ebony hair hung loose on her shoulders, cradling Spainard skin. Her face was of ageless beauty. Despite her angelic face, her eyes were so dark- almost the perfect shade of black- Douglas thought she was a demon masquerading as a seraph. He took in a quick breath, trying to ignore her obvious beauty.

Her pious face grew grave. "I have killed a man," she said, looking distressed.

Douglas didn't know what to say; he'd never met a murderer before. Luckily, the female went on. "Not just one man. Dozens. Maybe hundreds. Perhaps even thousands."

The father was stunned. "Why?" he asked. He'd been angry and frustrated at times, naturally, but he'd never been able to figure out what could drive a person to murder, especially in such great numbers.

She was silent for a moment. "Hunger," she admitted, sounding disinterested and not all like the God-fearing woman she'd appeared to be just moments ago. "Passion. Rage. The desire to inflict pain."

The pastor shook his head in wonder. "Why would you desire to hurt others?" he asked.

"It's hard to explain," she told him, her dark eyes bright with an emotion Douglas was unfamiliar with. She smiled at him. "I'll have to show you." In an instant, her front teeth lengthened. In an instant the demoness broke through the barrier between her and Douglas, drawing his body close to her and swiftly covering his mouth.

"In my thousands of years, I've never tasted a man of God before," she told him devilishly as she pulled his neck towards her and bit it. Douglas tried to scream out, but could not. _Our Father, Our Father, Hail Mary, Hail Mary_, he repeated over and over in his mind. Yet God seemed not to hear his pleas. His vision grew darker and darker. He felt her incisors lift out of him and there was the thick blackness of death.

An instant later, Douglas awoke again, in a world of pure black silence. He felt nothing but pain. A sweet liquid passed his lips and into his throat. Whatever he was drinking, it was chilled, sweet, and tasted of things he'd never known: hunger; power; passion; desire; fury; death.

_No! _he thought._ Our Father has written, 'Lead us not into temptation'._ Yet even as he thought this, he could not stop taking in the liquid which he now realized was blood. Soon, he was pulled away from the fluid; darkness filled him.

He awoke slowly, letting his weak body and blank mind become adjusted to the surroundings. His eyes told him he was underground; the ceiling and walls were made of stone. The man had no idea how he'd come there, or any recollection of what had happened before he had awoken.

"Arise, my servant," a voice ordered him. He sat up slowly, looking for the source of the voice. Before him a bat landed on the floor, and shuddered with energy. It took the shape of a woman, a beautiful woman. Her face seemed familiar to the man, but he could not recall from where.

"Who are you?" the man asked. The woman before him smiled.

"You do not remember?" He shook his head, and her smile grew. "What a pleasant occurrence; the man of God cannot recall his mortal life."

She still hadn't answered his question. "Who are you?" he again asked.

"Your Queen," the woman replied, walking towards him. "I am the Vampire Queen."

He gazed at her, entranced by her face, her body, her spirit. "And who am I?"

"You are Leonus, my servant." She touched his cheek tenderly. "You will be a fine addition to my family."

"I don't understand."

"Of course not, my sweetling." The woman pulled her hand away from his face. "But then you will feed, and you shall understand what you are meant to be." Leonus watched as she became a bat once more and flew from the room. He lay back on the bed of granite and closed his eyes.

Leonus felt a soft hand grasp his, and he was instantly awake. The Queen had returned.

"I have brought you a meal," she said with a smile. Leonus sat up. His eyes widened when he saw a girl bound and gagged at the Queen's feet. The vampiresss raised up the easy prey. Blood flowed through her veins; Leonus could hear it in his mind just as easily he heard her heart pound away. Soft murmuring filled his mind; hushed voices told him stories of fear and confusion.

"You hear her thoughts," the Vampire Queen explained, noticing his odd expression. "At first it is all you can hear, but soon you will be able to control it." She thrust the girl into his arms. "Feed."

The girl looked at Leonus fearfully. "What do you mean?" he asked. He could smell fear roll off her in waves.

"Your teeth," the vampiress said, motioning to her mouth. He ran his tongue along his incisors, feeling them slide out of his gums. Leonus understood as his hunger grew. Without another thought he plunged his teeth into the neck of the young female.

Sweet, hot blood ran over his tongue down his throat. Pain was replaced by pure pleasure. His strength returned to him tenfold. The soft murmuring faded as he could no longer draw blood into his mouth. There was no more. He looked down at the girl, and saw her eyes were wide and staring in Death's kingdom.

Leonus dropped her body in horror. "I killed her," he said, not believing it.

"Excellent," the Vampire Queen said with a smile.

"But- it's wrong! This killing, it's sinful!" Thoughts of piety filled his mind. "It's against God!"

"There is no God," the Queen snapped. Leonus gaped at her. "You were a pious man, a good man. If there was a God, would he not have saved your life? You spent your mortal life serving a book of fairy tales and ideas of righteousness. Your God never did anything for you, but I did. I gave you eternal life, and the chance to bend only to your own will, and your own desires."

"I won't!" Leonus cried. The Vampire Queen's face became cruel as she surveyed her young child.

"If you wish to survive, you will kill," the Vampire Queen said firmly. Leonus had lost the sense to speak, still shaking his head and backing away from the vampiress. The Queen looked at Leonus, her eyes smoldering with rage. "In exchange for this eternal life, all I ask for is your loyalty."

"But I cannot give it," Leonus replied weakly.

In a burst of smoke, a whip appeared in the Queen's hand. The whip lashed out at him, striking him in the cheek. "In my name, you will kill!" Leonus dropped to his feet, his face bleeding. The Queen moved behind him, whipping at his back. Leonus felt his shirt seams split and his back open with bloody wounds that burnt painfully. "You will kill! Repeat it!"

"I will kill…" He couldn't speak; pain ripped through every part of his body.

Her eyes lit up with vicious intensity. "Again!"

"I will kill... will kill... will kill..."

San Francisco, 1924:

Leonus sauntered into the speakeasy. It was already filled with people drinking their illegal liquor. Some- most, actually- were drunk, dancing around to piano music and gossiping. _Simple pleasures for the simple-minded_, Leonus thought exasperatedly.

He looked across the room with a smile. There was Patience. She was beautiful- for a human. Long silky brown hair, deep brown eyes, and perfect skin covering a delicious body. He'd stopped into this illegal gin joint only months before, looking for a witch/vampire hunter the Queen wanted him to kill- instead, he'd met a witch. A beautiful witch…with a husband, Gordon, and two cousins, Pearl and Paulette.

Gordon glanced up from the sheet music sitting on the piano before him. Leonus scowled at Gordon, who looked at the vampire like he wasn't there. Gordon had forbid Patience to ever speak to him again. _Humans_, Leo thought with loathing. Across the room Patience caught Leo's eye. Leo waited for a smile, a sign of recognition from her- then she quickly brought her attention back to her cousin Pearl. _Witches_, Leo thought with disgust, a slimy scowl on his face. Their power filled the room, cool and greasy on his heightened senses.

"If you'll excuse me for one second," Leo heard Patience say to Pearl. She headed straight for Leo, not meeting his eyes as she walked past him. "In the foyer. Now."

The vampire followed her. She leaned against the wall, her beaded fringed skirt swinging back and forth. Patience eyed him angrily. "Thought you'd stop by and see me between kills?" she said furiously.

Leo tried to hide his amusement. He knew very well slayer blood was spilled all over a speakeasy on the other side of town; the Queen's orders, of course. "Now, Patience, that's not fair."

"I told you not to come here again," the witch reminded Leo bitingly.

"But I miss you, Patience," he told her, stroking her face. She pulled away quickly. "You know you're not meant to live here the rest of your life, making money serving gin and doing cheap magic tricks." He glanced over at the cousin, Paulette, who was busy pretending she could read a crystal ball in the sunroom.

"Leo, I would love to leave with you and see the world," Patience said, her eyes filled with self-pity. "But I have responsibilities to my husband, my cousins, the entire witch line."

"You know, they can brew potions without you," Leo said as he moved closer to Patience. She stiffened slightly as Leo placed his hands on her shoulders. "You deserve better."

"If I don't stay here, there will be no Charmed Ones. The line continues with my family," Patience insisted. "My children, my children's children…"

"The Charmed Ones," Leo muttered, his anger beginning to get the best of him. "That's all I hear about, about how they'll save the world."

"Don't raise your voice," she snapped, looking nervous. "Gordon might hear you."

"I hope he does," he said, becoming more relaxed. He began to play with the straps of Patience's flapper dress. Leo pressed his mouth to her shoulder, then began to work up her neck.

"You can't do this…" she began, but the witch gave in. Their mouths met softly, then passionately. Leo could almost feel his heart beat as he started to pull down Patience's dress straps. His teeth lengthened. Patience breathed heavily as Leo started to kiss her neck. Her pulse throbbed under his lips. He-

"Patience," snapped a female voice. Leo and Patience pulled away. Pearl stood there, looking disapproving. "What if Gordon saw you here?" The vampire backed away as Patience smoothed down her skirts. Pearl's voice dropped. "We have to take care of Paulette. She and Anton are planning something- something dangerous."

The witch looked at Pearl. "I'll be right there," Patience promised. She and Leo watched the cousin walk back to her customers in the drawing room. Patience looked at Leo.

"Your witch duties will always come first," Leo said bitterly, the sound of his harsh words strange. "Your children, your grandchildren, your great-grandchildren come before us."

"What about your Queen?" Patience snapped.

"That's different," Leo replied sharply, feeling fury begin to boil in his veins.

Patience looked at Leo with pity. "This can never work. You're a vampire. I'm a witch."

"I can take you away from all of this," Leo promised her. "I can give you new life."

"Don't come back," Patience said softly, turning away. She left the foyer, going over to an angry Pearl. Leo watched her walk away, then walked out of the manor house. _Let Patience rot, surrounded my her little witch children, studying their magics_, Leo thought furiously as he transformed into his bat shape. _I'll make sure they get their magic education in vampires._

A soft moan from Piper awoke him. Leo opened his eyes. He rolled over, watching Piper sleep. His eyes widened as he realized who she was. "Patience?" he whispered to himself softly. It was her, in the form of her great-granddaughter. _I knew I fell in love you for a reason_, Leo thought as he caressed her face.

There was the chime of a bell, signaling sundown. Piper awoke slowly, stretching tired limbs. "Come on, sweetheart," Leo said tenderly as she sat up. "It's time to go to work."


	4. Stolen Away

Prue went over to the shelf in the kitchen. She grabbed a cross and a couple of wooden stakes, hiding them in the sleeves of her leather jacket. Then she made sure that her own crucifix was securely fastened around her neck.

"Should we bring my medical supplies?" Gary asked as he poured water into a bowl on the counter. Paige watched in fascination as he added a pinch of salt, stirring it around with his fingers.

"Yeah, you might need to. Who knows if we'll have company," Prue replied. She went to the sink and snatched the first-aid kit and vampire balm.

"So, that's holy water? Water with some salt?" Paige inquired. Gary shook his head.

"I haven't created it yet. Watch." Gary placed his hands over the bowl and closed his eyes. A white light began to appear around the bowl. Slowly the gentle radiance grew brighter until it suddenly vanished. "Holy water's done."

"You're gonna have to show me how to do that," Paige remarked. "That's so cool."

"Really?" Gary said, running a hand through his hair. His cheeks darkened slightly. "You think you'd wanna be a witch? I could teach you a couple of things."

"I'd love that," Paige said sweetly. Prue rolled her eyes. Paige was such an obvious flirt, and Gary was eating right out of her hand. _Of course, _Prue thought cynically_, you haven't flirted with anyone since the Clinton administration. How would you know?_ She passed Gary and Paige a few empty spray bottles, which they filled with the holy water. "Are you sure you wanna come, Paige?" Prue wanted to know. "It's gonna be rough."

Paige frowned as she poured water in the bottle. She made it sound like she couldn't handle a couple of vampires. Truthfully, Paige knew she was a weakling compared to Gary and Prue, and would probably be no help. However, Prue was a cold-hearted bitch, and made her distaste for Paige so obvious that she didn't want to give Prue the satisfaction of saying she couldn't handle it.

"I can handle it," Paige told Prue, her tone frosty. Prue still looked skeptical, but didn't say anything else. The vampire hunter slung her pack on and looked at Gary and Paige.

"OK, we ready?" Prue asked. "Let's go."

Piper sighed as she lay back on her bed. Her chest felt tight and stiff; her skin was stretched far too thin across her bones. She needed to feed. Now that the sun was down, it was safe to leave the caverns and go hunting.

"I'm hungry," she whined, twirling her hair around her index finger. Leo's eyes skipped over to her hair. Piper knew playing innocent with him meant she always got her way. "Let's stop for a snack before we go to the museum."

Leo looked back at her face, smiling at her. "Come on, sweetheart," he said tenderly, putting his hands on her shoulders. Piper smiled. _He's trying to baby me_, she thought._.. How cute._ "We'll eat soon. I'm sure Prue and her seer found out our plans, and will be at the museum, trying to save the day. Then… we can kill them."

"Good. I'm so sick of Wonder Woman messing up our killings," Piper snapped.

Leo grinned. "Don't worry about a thing, sweetheart. We're going to raise the Queen…" Leo licked his lips, and his voice dropped low. "Then we'll bathe in the witches' blood."

Four guards, plus security cameras, surrounded the front door. Most likely the back entrance would have only one or two. A skinny teenager stood at the back door. Piper knocked him unconscious, and finished him off in a second.

"A little salty for me," she commented, licking her lips, as Leo broke down the museum door. They went inside and looked around. "Where are they keeping our prize?" he wondered to himself, looking at a map of the museum's interior on the wall.

Piper smashed her fist through one of the display cases. She began to stroke an apple green ball gown. "Can I have it, Leo?" she wanted to know. "It's so pretty."

"Take whatever you want, sweetheart, just as long as we get the tablet," he told her, his eyes still on the map. "I found it." Leo pointed to a spot. "Middle Eastern Arts, the next floor." They hurried up the museum stairs.

"Looks like our undead friends were already here," Paige commented, shuddering when she saw the teenage corpse lying on the ground. Prue stepped over the body and inside the building, with Paige and Gary following. Gary looked at the map of the museum's interior.

Paige raised an eyebrow at the fist-shaped hole in the display case. She studied the ball gown inside. "For a vampire, she's got great taste," she murmured to herself. The girl turned to Gary and Prue. "What about cameras? What if someone sees us breaking in?"

Prue looked around the room they were in- Victorian Era Artwork-, and spotted a camera. She squinted her eyes, and it went flying, plastic shards breaking off when the camera hit the wall.

Paige winced. _Note to self, _she thought quickly._ Never get too close to Prue when she's angry._

"Middle Eastern Arts is upstairs, first door on the right. Come on," Gary told them. The three found a staircase and went up it. They entered a hall and turned on the first door. "It should be in here somewhere," he told his companions.

"Somewhere? This exhibit is huge!" Paige cried. Prue smacked her arm hard. "Stupid," Prue whispered. "That was very stupid. Vampires have great hearing. They probably know we're here."

"Stupid humans," Leo remarked to Piper, who was watching with him in the shadows. All three of them had large necks, Piper noticed. Their hearts throbbed like bass chords, rumbling through the vampires' own bodies. The vampiress craved the sensation, of feeling almost alive.

"Let's split up," Prue said, her voice hushed. "I'll go in the door on the left. Gary, you and Paige take the right." She handed Paige a flashlight and a bottle of holy water. Gary grabbed a stake and a cross. "Scream if you need help. Come back here when you're done," the vampire hunter ordered. Gary and Paige agreed and walked away together.

"Guess I can't be trusted to hold the actual weapons," muttered Paige as she walked away with Gary. Leo watched them go. "I'll find the _Armai'ach_," he told Piper. "You just make sure those two don't get it the way." He kissed Piper softly, and then hurried away.

Gary and Paige walked together silently through the exhibit. Paige peeked through each display case with her flashlight. "Do you see it?" she asked as they peered at one case of Indian bracelets.

"No," he told her. "I just hope Piper and Leo didn't get it first." Piper continued to watch them, a delighted smile on her face. They made a sweet little couple. Sort of like her and Leo, minus the fun killing. Piper made a moaning sound in the shadows.

Paige swung her flashlight around, completely missing Piper. The vampire smiled; the girl's fear was so strong she could smell it from only a few yards away. "Did you hear that?" she asked Gary, her voice strained.

"Yeah," he said quietly. Paige grabbed him tightly, pressing her head against his chest. His heart began to beat a little faster, she noticed. He wrapped his arm around her. She took comfort in having him there. Slowly she pulled away and smiled at him. Bashfully he smiled back.

Piper closed her eyes, and dove into her vampiric mind powers. She immersed herself in Paige's thoughts, reading each one like she would read a book. The vampiress created footsteps in Paige's head.

"What was that?" Paige exclaimed, whirling the flashlight around. Gary frowned. "I didn't hear anything."

"But- I could of sworn I heard footsteps-" _Stupid humans_, Piper thought with a quiet sigh. She went into Gary's mind. _We should go,_ Piper willed him to think.

_We should go back to Prue now_, Gary thought. Paige shuddered in the darkness. "Let's go back to Prue," Gary said soothingly, gently taking Paige's hand in his own. The two humans walked back through the exhibit; the vampiress followed.

Prue held her flashlight up to the display case. _Dammit_, she thought to herself. _No tablet. _She continued to search the room. Her flashlight glinted brightly off a piece of broken glass.

Leo watched from the corner, storing the _Armai'ach_ in a backpack. Then he looked up at Prue, feeling hunger cramp up in his stomach. The vampire hadn't eaten all day, and he was starving, especially for Prue. The witch blood that ran through her veins was strong, hot and sweet, just like Phoebe's and Piper's had. Plus, Prue had ruined so many of his meals that he wanted to see the bitch screaming in agony.

Prue turned to her next display case, and heard a crunch as she put her boot down on the floor. Glass shards surrounded an empty display case. Prue cursed to herself when she saw that the case had been smashed in. "Damn you, Leo," she whispered angrily.

"Already been done."

She turned around, cursing, and found Leo there. "Well, if it isn't my favorite murdering son-of-a-bitch," Prue spat, angry with herself for not noticing him there before she turned around.

He smiled as he hoisted the backpack over his shoulder. "Gee, Prue. I never get tired of your wit."

"Hand over the _Armai'ach_, Leo," she ordered. She waved her hand, sending the backpack off the vampire's shoulder into the corner.

The vampire growled and backhanded Prue into the wall. She cried out as she fell through the thin sheet rock. Leo went to pick up the backpack. Prue brushed concrete dust from her eyes and waved her hand, sending Leo flying telekinetically into a wall. She sighed with relief as he was knocked unconscious, and was even happier to see a beam of sunlight reflect off one of the windows in the museum.

Gary and Paige burst into the exhibit, where Leo lay unconscious in the corner and Prue supported herself weakly against the wall. Piper ran into the exhibit, and shrieked when she saw light beginning to pour into the museum.

"This isn't over!" she cried, running to her beloved vampire, kissing his face. "Leo, sweetheart, wake up…" Leo opened his eyes, and they both transformed into bats, flying out of the exhibit and the open back door.

Paige and Gary hurried over to Prue, pulling her out of the destroyed wall and looping an arm around her shoulders. "We gotta get out of here, before we get arrested," she murmured as the three left the museum.

"You failed," the Vampire Queen snapped, looking upon her shamefaced servants. "I am surrounded by incompetence!"

"We apologize," Leo said. He and Piper were down upon their knees at the Queen's feet. One of her servants _tsk_ed them.

"Apologize!" a servant inquired, outraged. "You should lay down your _lives_ for what you've done." Leo growled at her, and she backed away from the vampire, afraid of what Leonus might do in a rage.

"My Queen, before you decide our punishment," Piper said, her eyes filled with guilt, "give us another chance."

The Queen looked upon her Leo, whose head still bled profusely. She looked upon her favorites with a touch of sympathy. "Send for a healer," the Queen ordered the servant. The servant left the chamber. "Tell me again how this happened."

"Prue was strong, and ready for us," Leo explained. His face, smeared in his own blood, was filled with rage. "This will _never_ happen again, my Queen."

"It most certainly will not," the Queen agreed fiercely. "But- you say there were _three_ people last night?"

"Prue, the seer, and a girl we attacked a few nights ago," Piper told the Queen. "Prue interrupted our feeding and had her seer heal the girl."

"This other girl is powerless?" The vampires nodded, causing the Queen to smile. "I will give you two a second chance- after all, you have not failed me before. Piper, is your sister still in the mental hospital?"

"I believe so."

The Queen smiled as she began to formulate a plan. "Listen carefully to my words, then, and we'll see what we can do about getting the _Armai'ach _back."

"I can't believe it," Paige said, walking into the manor with Gary and Prue. She couldn't stop grinning. "We did it!"

"_I_ did it," Prue argued, hobbling over to the living room couch. That didn't dampen Paige's enthusiasm, though.

"Still, that was pretty cool. Can we do it again?"

"Normally this kind of world-ending thing is rare," Gary told her, looking as thrilled as Paige. "But- if we ever need you, I don't see why you could help…"

"I do," muttered Prue.

"Excuse me?" Paige asked, her tone slightly subdued. "I missed what you said."

Prue plastered a fake smile on her face. "Nothing," Prue replied.

"Let me get my healing supplies," Gary said, hurrying into the kitchen, Paige at his heels. He went over to the shelf and pulled down his first-aid kit. He spun around- and there was Paige, and he realized that their faces were close enough to kiss. They froze in their positions.

Paige cleared her throat and smiled at him, nervously. "Let me take that." Gary handed her the kit gingerly and she accepted it, her manicured hands wrapping around it. _She's so beautiful_, he thought. He hadn't been attracted to anyone since his fiancé was murdered.

"Paige?" Gary said abruptly. She stopped at about the doorway and turned around. "Yes?" she answered.

"Would you- um- what I meant to say…" Gary trailed off, unsure of how to word his question. He laughed a little. "I apologize for having no social skills at all."

Paige shrugged, smiling. "It's OK. What do you want to say?"

He took in a deep breath. "Would you like to go out to dinner? Maybe tonight? I mean, if you have work, or another date or something, that would be all right-"

To his pleasure, she grinned. "Of course I would, Gary."

He smiled back. "Really? That's…great."

"Ahem." Both of them turned to the door, where Prue was. An ugly scowl was on her face. "I got tired of waiting," she said grimly, sitting down at the kitchen table.

After Paige went home and Prue's wounds had been tended to, she went right back to work. She had to rest, Gary's orders, but she refused to sleep. She spent the day searching the _Book of Shadows_, looking for a potion or spell to destroy the _Armai'ach_.

"Do you know anything that would break it?" Prue asked Gary. "I tried using my power but it stayed whole." He shrugged and yawned.

"I don't know, Prue," he told her mid-yawn. "I'm going to bed. I'm going out with Paige tonight."

"What?" She slammed the Book shut. "You can't!"

"Why not?"

"What- what if I need you to heal someone?"

"Prue." Gary sighed. "It's just this one night. I'll help you tomorrow, and the day after that -"

Her voice was filled with shame. "You're giving up on the cause."

"The cause! Prue," Gary said, struggling to keep his temper under control, "just because you have no life outside of slaying doesn't mean I have to, too."

The remark stung; she'd actually been giving that- a life outside of magic and demons- a lot of thought lately. "Fine," Prue said bitterly. "Go. Have fun with Paige. But if the world ends, I blame you." Gary scowled and left Prue's room, slamming the door shut.

"Hello," a man said to the receptionist at the San Francisco Psychiatric Hospital. He was tall and blond, dressed in a green raincoat and jeans. "I called here earlier, about visiting my sister? Phoebe Halliwell?"

The receptionist frowned. "I don't recall taking any phone call from-" The receptionist met the man's eyes, and nodded dreamily. "Yes…I remember now. Your sister has the, uh, vampire phobia?" She took a visitor's pass and began to fill it out for him. "You know, I didn't know she had a brother. I've only met your sister. She's always visiting, bringing gifts."

"You must mean Prue." The man smiled at the receptionist. "I've been abroad the last couple years, and it's hard to come out for visits. What room is Phoebe in?"

"315."

"315? Thank you so much." Leo made his way down the hall.

"Yummy," Phoebe said with a smile as the nurse fed her another scoop of tapioca pudding. "So yummy. Like blood. Leo and Piper drinks blood. They're vampires."

"I've heard all about Leo and Piper, Phoebe," the nurse said tiredly.

"Well, now you can meet one of them in the flesh." Both women looked toward the door, to find Leo in the doorway. Phoebe screamed and pulled at her restraints.

"No! He'll kill me!" screamed Phoebe as Leo shut and locked the door.

"Sir, I think you'd better leave," the nurse said, approaching Leo. The vampire backhanded the woman into the wall. The nurse slid to the floor.

"Stay away! Dn't hurt me!" Phoebe jerked away from Leo, still screaming. The vampire sighed.

"My goodness. You haven't seen me in six years, and _that's_ how you treat me? That hurts, Phoebe," Leo said. He walked over to Phoebe's telephone and lifted up the receiver. "Do you know if Prue still has the same phone number?"

"What are you talking about, don't have a life? I lead a very… lively life, thank you very much," Prue muttered as she tied her combat boots. Suddenly the phone rang. _Probably Gary having an awful time_, thought Prue. She hurried over to the phone in the kitchen. "Hello?"

"Hi, Prue? It's Leo. You know, the murdering son-of-a-bitch? Well, I'm here at the hospital with Phoebe-" Prue could hear Phoebe screaming in the background- "and I thought, wouldn't it be nice to have all the Halliwells together? You, Phoebe, I'll call Piper over- it'll be fun. You bring the snack mix, we'll have a party. You can bring the mopey healer if you want, too."

Prue inhaled deeply. Her mind raced. "You stay the hell away from her, Leo."

"You know what would be more fun? If I fixed Phoebe's head. Made her normal again. I can do that, you know."

Prue wasn't sure how to respond to that. "What are you playing at, Leo?"

"Ooh, but you know what would be even better? I sire her. I sire her into a crazy, vicious vampire. That would be fun. How's that sound? Hello? Prue?" Prue had already left.

Gary couldn't stop smiling as he and Paige reached the door of her apartment. The evening had been perfect in every way. They'd gone for dim sum in Chinatown, and seen a film at the Rialto. Before tonight, Gary couldn't even remember the last time he'd been on the town for pure enjoyment.

"I had a great time tonight," Paige said with a smile.

"Me too," Gary said. He paused, not knowing if he should kiss her. Finally he hesitated so long that Paige beat him to it; she pressed her bubble gum lips on his, giving him the most rewarding sensation he'd felt in years. He was really falling for her.

He pulled away slowly, smiling. "How was that?" Paige wanted to know.

"I… don't even have words." He kissed her again, savoring the sensation. "I'll call you?"

"OK. Goodnight." She unlocked the door to her apartment, turned on the lights, and waved good-bye to Gary. As he walked away, she shut the door.

"How cute," a familiar voice remarked. Paige turned around sharply, to find Piper sitting on her bed. "You and the seer," continued the vampiress. "He saves you from the big, bad demons, and you fall in love." She laughed as if that was the funniest thing she'd ever heard.

Paige began to back into the door. "Stay away," she said quietly. She fumbled through her purse for a cross.

"I don't think so," Piper said as she stood up, no humor in her face. In the blink of an eye, she was behind Paige, twisting her arms back and covering her mouth. Paige tried to scream, but Piper put pressure on her windpipe, making her pass out. "I give the orders now."

Leo kneeled beside Phoebe with a smile. "So, how are things with you, Phoebe?" The girl moaned through the piece of bedding Leo had gagged her with. "What's that? Still a raving psychotic? Aww, that's too bad." He pulled off Phoebe's gag. "So, really, how are you?"

"Prue will save me," Phoebe insisted, her voice becoming shrill and her words rushed. "I'm going to be saved, and then I'm going to have tea, and we'll go to the beach, and then we'll sleep-"

"Oh, right. _This_ is why I gagged you." Leo stuffed the bedding into a ball into Phoebe's mouth. He unbuttoned his coat and pulled a knife from the sheath on his belt. He'd stolen it from a demon he'd nearly killed a hundred years ago. The vampire held it up to the light. He smiled as he ran his finger over the name embedded in the handle: Belthazor.

"Someone's running late," Leo said, glancing up at the clock. "What _ever _will I do with you, Phoebe, until Prue arrives?" Phoebe began to seize up as Leo approached her, his knife glinting in the fluorescent light.

"Good evening, Miss Halliwell- Miss Halliwell, where are you going?" the receptionist asked as Prue dashed through the hall down to Phoebe's room. The door was locked. Prue squinted her eyes, and the door flew open. There was Leo, sitting beside Phoebe, who struggled at her restraints. He stood up, his friendly yet sinister eyes meeting Prue's.

"Get away from her, you bastard," Prue spat.

"Help!" Phoebe shrieked.

"Did you know that the Vampire Queen wanted you to meet Piper instead of me here? But I disagreed. I thought, who could you hate more: the sister who drove Phoebe crazy-" Leo grinned, stroking Phoebe's shoulder. "- Or the one who's made your life a living hell for about four years?"

Prue lifted up her crossbow. "You're dead, Leo," she said, her voice barely more than a whisper. "Step away if you don't want a chest of splinters."

The vampire smiled his sadistic grin. "An empty threat, Prue. You know as well as I do you'll never kill me." He snapped his fingers; Phoebe's eyes closed and she was fast asleep. Leo ripped Phoebe from her bed, breaking her restraints. "Good-bye, Prue."

"No!" Prue shouted. In one move he jumped out the window with her. Prue ran to the window, just in time to see Leo land on his feet and slip Phoebe into the backseat of a convertible out front. He climbed in the front and drove away.

Paige awoke to the sensation of fingertips on her neck. She tried to fight Piper's strong grip, but was unable to. "Your skin is so soft…" Piper said. She ripped the bandage off Paige's neck slowly; her skin throbbed with the sudden pain. "Does it hurt?" Piper ran her fingertips over the wounded area.

"Please, stop it," Paige pleaded.

"I would, but I really don't want to." Piper ripped through Paige's flesh. She screamed as she felt her body collapse from the inside as the vampire drained Paige of her blood.

"Stop it!" Paige cried. Finally she collapsed into unconsciousness.

Piper pulled himself away from her neck. _She tastes just like Phoebe_, she thought to himself. Holding Paige in one arm, she used her fangs to slit her own wrist, and put it to Paige's mouth to drink. She coughed once as she gulped down the blood, and then willingly drank.

_The Queen will be so pleased with my new childe_, Piper thought as she licked her cut clean, and it healed instantly. She lifted Paige into her arms and left the apartment.


	5. Life As We Know It

Prue burst through the back door of the manor. Gary was in the kitchen, making himself a cup of tea. "Evening, Prue," Gary said with a smile. His smile faded when he saw Prue; she looked as if she'd just been hit by a bus. "What happened?"

"Leo. He's kidnapped Phoebe." Prue slammed her crossbow down on the kitchen table. "I need to find her."

"Where do you propose we should look?" Gary asked, immediately setting down his teapot and turning off the stove.

"The Underground," Prue replied. Gary swallowed painfully: that was the home of the most of the city's vampires. Hunters who went in there didn't come out.

"Prue-" Gary paused to think. How could he convince her this was suicide? "You can't. It's too dangerous."

"You don't have to help me." Prue went into the living room and came back with a fresh quiver of arrows. She slipped them over her shoulder "You can stay here and sit by the phone, wait for your little girlfriend to call."

Gary was about to comeback and say something nasty at her, but instead tried to stay calm. "Prue, this is ridiculous. The Underground is where the _Vampire Queen_ lives. She is the most powerful vampire in the _world_, and she's surrounded by her children. They will kill you."

"Don't talk to me like I'm a child, I know all that," Prue snapped as she crossed over to the door, her back to Gary. "But I need to save my sister." Her voice dropped. "I couldn't save the last one. I need to do this."

"Please, Prue, _don't_ _do_ _this_," Gary begged her, his voice harsh. "They will kill you."

Prue paused. "Well, what's so great about living anyway?" She walked out of the house and slammed the door.

Piper carried Paige's limp body into her chamber, calling for her lover. "Leo!" The vampire ran down the hall, into the chamber. "What is it, sweetheart?" he asked her. Piper only stared at Phoebe's body. "What is my _sister_ doing here?"

"A sacrifice is needed for the ritual," Leo reminded her. "Blood must be shed for the Queen to rise. Plus, it distracts Prue while you sire the seer's girlfriend. You know the plan."

Piper sighed and lay Paige down next to Phoebe. Her eyelids flutter. The two vampires crowded around her, watching Paige open her eyes and stare at them.

"Who are you?" she murmured, barely moving her lips. "Where am I?"

"The Underworld, sweetheart," Leo told her, not noticing the furious glance from Piper. "Home of the Vampires."

Paige looked at him, and touched her neck. She turned to Piper. "You. You did this. You sired me."

"Hope you're not upset." Leo grinned at her, grabbing Paige's hands and helping her sit up.

Paige smiled. "I feel more alive now than I ever did before. I can see everything, I can hear everything, I can smell everything…" Her canine teeth lengthened to razor-like points. "And I want to taste _everyone_."

"Remember your little seer man-child?" Leo asked. Paige nodded. "You can start with him. We'll take you there."

"Just you, Leo," Piper informed him. "The Queen wants to see me." Leo nodded and kissed his mate. Piper shapeshifted into a bat, and left the chamber. Paige watched with wide eyes. "Alright, I _definitely_ want to learn how to do that."

It was midnight. Prue was on the outskirts of San Francisco, following a vampire she'd watch shift into bat form. "Where are you going?" Prue whispered to herself. She watched the bat duck into an open manhole. The vampire hunter nodded to herself and ran to the manhole, climbing down the ladder slowly.

Gary drummed his fingers upon the _Armai'ach_. It was strange, how one stone could cause so much destruction. He sighed and pushed the stone away, sipping from his teacup and looking through the Book of Shadows. He couldn't stop feeling so helpless.

A VW Bug pulled up in the driveway, and two vampires stepped out of it. "Are you ready?" Leo asked Paige as they went up to the door. She nodded, putting her hand on the knocker. "Just distract him while I get the stone."

"OK," Paige said obediently. She banged the doorknocker just as Leo leaped onto the attic windowsill, and climbed through the open window.

Gary swung open the door. "Prue! Oh, Paige," he said, half-letdown, half-relieved. "It's you."

"Thanks for the warm welcome," Paige said, trying to sound hurt.

"I'm sorry," Gary told her, pulling the door open and letting Paige in. "Prue left here about fifteen minutes ago. Leo kidnapped Phoebe, and now she's trying to find the entrance to the Underworld."

Paige felt ill. _Leo!_ she shouted in her mind. _Did you hear what Gary just said?_

_I heard_, he replied grimly. Paige could feel his presence, only a flight of stairs away. _I'll make sure Piper knows._

"Paige, are you all right? You look pale- pal_er_," Gary noticed. Paige smiled quickly.

"I'm fine. Just a little nauseous. I thought you might have a- an herbal remedy I could try."

"Oh, of course." Gary let her in. Paige could hear Gary's heart pound away, the blood circulate through his body. She wanted it to drink from him so badly.

"I just brewed some tea, and if you mix it with some cinnamon and honey you'll feel much better," Gary told her as he began to head into the kitchen. Paige followed, and watched him grab a teacup and saucer. He began to pour her a cup. "So, um…I had a lot of fun tonight, Paige. But, uh…" He blushed. "I guess that's, uh, that's not too hard when you're spending time with someone like you."

Paige looked at him, and her desire for him became more than physical need. "Oh, Gary…" Paige could hear footsteps coming from the foyer. Leo was coming. The vampiress stepped closer to him, taking her teacup. "You're so sweet." Gary just shrugged, and dropped a spoonful of sugar in his teacup.

_What are you doing? Sweet-talking your prey?_ Paige could hear Leo say in her mind. _That's my kind of approach, yes, but right now we need him dead._

_But he's so sweet_, Paige told Leo. She remembered how he'd treated her in her life, like something precious. Gary had saved her life.

_I'm entering the kitchen now, so kill Harry Potter or I will_, Leo informed her. Gary took a sip from his teacup. Paige's eyes were locked on the veins in his throat, covered only by a thin layer of skin.

"Gary," Paige said, not trying to hide her pained expression, "I'm so sorry."

"For what?" He looked up at her, his brown eyes so innocent and naïve.

"This." Fangs burst from Paige's gums, and she immersed them in Gary's neck. He cried out in pain, his soft eyes filling with terror. Paige ignored it, lost in the taste of her first kill. She let his blood roll over her tongue, down her throat, quenching the thirst that she didn't even know she had.

"Good job," Leo murmured to himself, watching Paige drink. He turned his attention to the _Armai'ach_, which sat upon the kitchen table. The vampire picked it up, and could feel the ancient power pulsing in the marble.

He heard the sound of a body collapsing to the floor. Gary lay on the ground, his eyes wide in shock. Paige pulled herself from his neck. "Sire," she said heavily, sounding both exhilarated and exhausted, "I need a dagger."

"Paige, we don't have the time for you to make yourself a boyfriend," Leo snapped impatiently. "And I'm not even your sire."

"Please?" Paige begged, licking the blood off her lips pathetically. The elder vampire looked down upon her face with pity. He sighed and pulled out his dagger, tossing it to Paige. Leo waited while she cut her arm, and made the seer drink from it.

"No…" Gary muttered, his words barely audible. "No…"

"Just do it," Paige whispered. "We can stay together, live forever." Finally Gary drank her blood. Paige watched him until his chest stopped rising. She licked her arm where she'd cut herself. Her wound sealed. With ease Paige picked up his body.

"Let's just get out of here," Leo told his childe, and they left the manor.

The smell of dried blood and undead flesh stung Prue's nose. The lower she climbed down the ladder, the less sewer-like the manhole was, and more cavern-like it became. She pressed her face against the ladder when a group of bats came at her, heading towards the open light above. When they passed her, Prue continued downwards.

At the end of the ladder, Prue dropped soundlessly onto the floor. The room was empty except for a vampire sleeping as he guarded two large iron doors. It didn't take long for Prue to figure out that that room was the Queen's throne room. Silently she crept over to the doors. She never even noticed another person in the room.

"Prue," Piper greeted her sister as she entered the foyer. "How funny, I don't remember you being invited down here." The vampire hunter's head snapped around to look at Piper. Prue gritted her teeth and grabbed the crossbow that hung on a strap around her neck. She wanted to find Leo first, but killing Piper wouldn't exactly ruin the evening.

Before Prue could fire, Piper leaned her hand against the wall. There was a metallic clang from the ceiling, and a steel cage fell down on Prue, trapping her instantly. The crossbow disappeared in a puff of black smoke. Piper smiled as the crossbow rematerialized in her hands.

The vampire guard awoke suddenly, snapping to attention. Other vampires came pouring out of their chambers into the main hall, staring at and chattering about the human in their midst. Prue grabbed the bars and pulled, but found them too strong. She attempted to use her telekinesis to lift the cage off her, but it was far too heavy. Vampires crowded around her, glaring at her; most recognized Prue, from late night hunts she'd ruined or the loved ones she'd murdered.

The doors opened, and behind two red-cloaked vampiresses came the Vampire Queen. Ebony curls cradled an exotic face of ageless beauty. She had dark eyes, darker than night and more deadly than any vampire Prue had ever met. Her crimson lips met amusedly as Piper handed her Prue's crossbow.

"Ah, Prue," the Vampire Queen said with a smile. "I was hoping you'd join us." She looked at her brethren. "Is anyone hungry?" The room was filled with the sound of licking lips and snarls.

Paige peered at herself in the passenger seat mirror, trying to apply Piper's liquid eyeliner. Leo's eyes were on the road, but he kept glancing over at Paige. He hummed a familiar tune.

"What song is that?" Paige wanted to know, twisting the eyeliner bottle closed.

"Just a hymn," Leo replied under his breath.

Paige laughed. "Hymns? The vicious Leonus likes church hymns?"

"I remember a few, from when I was alive. You'd be surprised how…" He paused, looking nauseous. "How _human_ I used to be." The vampire glanced back at Gary, his limp body on the back seat. "Did he drink enough? The more he drinks, the faster he wakes."

Paige nodded. "Plenty. Plus, he's a witch. Doesn't that help?"

"Witches do tend to rise a lot faster." Just as Leo spoke, Gary blinked his eyes. Paige turned around in her seat, and watched with fascination as her witch slowly awoke.

"Where's Phoebe?" demanded Prue as Piper approached the cage.

"My bedroom," replied Piper. "She's the sacrifice for the Queen's release spell." She grinned, amused by Prue's horrified look. "Oh, and by the way, Leo and Paige are on their way here with the _Armai'ach_."

Prue stared at Piper. "But Gary has the _Armai'ach_. And Paige- why would Paige help you?"

"I sired Paige. And then she killed Gary."

_Oh my god_, Prue thought, feeling like her chest was shattering. _Gary and Paige._ Prue didn't even like Paige, but they were the last two humans Prue had come close to being friends with.

Piper laughed at Prue's heartbroken look. "Aww, is wittle Prue gonna cry?"

"Shut up," Prue snapped, rattling the bars on her cage. "Shut up!"

"Temper, temper," Piper said with a laugh. Her laughter stopped when she saw the lost-puppy look Prue was giving her. "What are you looking at?"

"God, I used to think I could save you," Prue said softly. "That if I killed Leo, you'd come back to me, and use your powers to fix Phoebe. You'd still be a vampire, sure, but we could be a family." Prue looked solemn. "But I can see now my sister is dead, and you're just inhabiting her shell."

Prue hoped that something she said would maybe trigger a reaction in Piper, something to show she wasn't fully corrupted. But instead, she got a wide smile and a condescending laugh. "Good to see you finally understand then." Piper turned around and walked to her Queen without another look at Prue.

"Paige," whispered Gary, his eyes squinting through the San Francisco lights that shone so brightly. "Paige…"

"I'm here," Paige told him, crawling into the back of the car where Gary lay. She sat beside him, putting his head on her shoulder. "I'm here."

"My vision…came true," he said, a strange smile on his face. Paige gasped as ivory fangs poked through his lips. "You're a vampire. I'm a vampire."

"I just wanted us to stay together," Paige said, stroking his cheek. "Are you upset?"

Gary placed his hand on hers, and kissed her with all the intensity he could muster; something he never would've done as a human. "Not at all," he whispered in her ear. The car stopped abruptly. Both vampires looked up to the driver's seat, where Leo grabbed the backpack with the _Armai'ach_.

"We're here," he told them. "The Queen's waiting."

"Leo," Piper greeted him as two bats and a blond vampire descended into the cavern. She ran up to him, kissing him. "You got it."

"I got it." Again he kissed her, then took her hand and walked to the Vampire Queen. He removed the _Armai'ach_ from his knapsack. Leo knelt down before her. "Your prize, my Queen."

"Leonus," the Queen said sweetly, taking his chin and lifting it up. She smiled at both Leo and Piper. "When I rise from this tomb, you two shall be at my right hand." The Queen passed the _Armai'ach _to a servant and clapped her hands. "My children! Leave this cavern. Go and feast upon the city! Not too long from now, I will join you!"

There were cries of joy and exhilaration from the crowd, except for Prue. She turned back to the sewer entry, where she watched the two bats transform into Paige and Gary.

"Gary," Prue gasped. She could see the changes in her friend; he didn't slouch, or avoid eye contact. His arms were wrapped around Paige's waist, his lips met hers passionately. Prue looked away; it was too painful.

Hundreds of vampires formed hundreds of bats, flying through the manhole up into the city. Once they were gone, the room fell silent. The Queen clapped her hands again; a square formed before her, drawn in the dusty floor. Five black candles marked each point. Leo, Piper, Paige, and Gary each took a point, as the Queen put herself in the middle and stood, facing the ceiling. The _Armai'ach_ left Leo's hands in a tuft of black smoke and reappeared in the Queen's hands.

"_Lamia caedes maleficus indolentia saxetum_," the Queen read from the tablet. "_Lamia caedes maleficus indolentia saxetum_." The ground began to vibrate. Prue clung more tightly to the bars, watching the ceremony with both fear and astonishment.

Leo left the circle as the Queen began the words again, turning down a hall Prue could not see. When he returned, a babbling Phoebe was in his arms. Her voice was hushed, but her face was filled with fear.

"No!" Prue screamed. "Please, don't hurt her!"

Leo passed Phoebe to the Queen. "With this sacrifice, I am freed!" cried the Queen, ripping into Phoebe's neck like a wild animal. Phoebe screamed; blood gushed freely from her neck.

"NO!" Prue cried. Her voice fell upon uncaring ears. She watched her sister be fed upon, just like she had four years ago when Piper had stolen her mind. The vampire hunter tried to scream again, but her voice was gone. The Queen tossed away Phoebe's dead body as Leo stood on his point on the square.

The square the Queen stood in began to rock and burst up from the ground. She laughed wickedly as she rose in the air, her vampire disciples beaming as they watched her. "Oh, _fun_," Piper sighed wistfully, her eyes locked on the queen.

The earth began to shake more violently. _Gary's vision_, thought Prue. The earthquake would destroy the city. Prue felt anger and sadness rip through her as the cavern ceiling parted to admit the Queen though. The quaking stopped, and there was silence.

"It is done," Leo said with a grin. He then looked over to Prue's cage. "Oh, I almost forgot you were here," he remarked sarcastically. The vampire snapped his fingers; the cage became dust, piling itself around Prue. "Who's hungry?"

Prue looked at Gary, who had a particularly famished look on his face. _He hasn't fed yet_, Prue realized. The vampire hunter ran from the vampires, jumping onto the ladder that led into the caverns.

The vampires transformed into bats, swarming around Prue, nipping at her bare shoulders and neck. She screamed, and with one hand pulled a bottle of holy water from her pocket. Prue squirted it upon the bat closest to her, soaking it entirely.

The bat fell to the ground, and transformed back into Gary. The holy water had soaked him entirely. His scorched skin sizzled, and he shuddered in pain. "Help me," he moaned as his body broke down into dust.

"No!" Paige cried, landing on the ground and transforming back into her vampire form. The vampire picked up a handful of ash and let it stream through her fingers like a sieve. She looked at Prue, who had an equally horrified look on her face. "You killed him," she spat, his brown eyes murderous.

Prue didn't waste time, and continued to climb to the top. Sweat dripped down her forehead, stinging her eyes. The sweat on her palms loosened her grip on the bars. "No," she whispered fearfully as she felt herself start to slip. She was only a few feet from the top. "No!" she cried throatily. Prue fell backwards, onto the ground.

No one caught Prue. Her body slammed into the hard dirt. Piper watched her sister cry out in pain as she broke her collarbone-again. Paige looked down upon Prue's body with bitterness. "I really hope this hurts," she snarled as she kneeled down and bit into the vampire hunter.

Leo turned to Piper. "Come on, sweetheart. Let's go see what the Queen is up to." They transformed into bats, and flew out of the caverns, into the dark night sky. Fire raged from city buildings; people ran amuck through the streets; and the vampires feasted openly, not even trying to conceal their identity.

The two vampires landed upon one of the few standing apartment buildings. "Mmm," Piper said, pressing her body against Leo's. "I love a happy ending."

"Me too," Leo replied, kissing her forehead. "Me too."

Prue felt Paige digging her teeth through her neck, drinking her dry, but she ceased to care. Paige was going to kill her, which was all she wanted. She could go to Heaven; be with her mother, Grams, Phoebe and Piper. Her vision faded into darkness. _It's over_, Prue thought happily. _It's over now. I'm coming to see you all._

Through the blackness in her mind, she heard Paige's voice. "Your thoughts, I can hear them. You want death."

_Yes_, _yes_, pleaded Prue silently. She took in what she thought would be her last breath- and tasted coppery blood flowing into her mouth. "I don't want you to have the satisfaction," Paige spat. "You can live forever. Become the one thing you hate."

_No!_ Prue screamed her mind as she swallowed the blood that overflowed in her mouth. The sound of her heart grew distant, and her breathing ended. And then there was nothing else.


	6. Author's Note

Dear Readers:

I thought I had given up the practice of fanfiction. I finished this story years ago. Yet one day I was browsing through this site, on a whim, and read through this story, "Amaranthine", and it occurred to me: it's pretty good.

But there were problems. Grammar, continuity- and a longing desire to add in another popular _Charmed _character: Cole. I wanted to write a sequel introducing Belthazor to my crazy Vampire Universe, but I couldn't seem to do it. It occurred to me over dinner one night: rewrite the original with Cole in it!

So I've taken this story and rewritten it. Leo and Piper are ten times more evil in this story. More background about the role of vampires in the magical community is displayed. Phoebe is still whacked out crazy, and Gary and Paige still embark on an ill-fated romance. But this time, so does Prue. Cole plays a huge part, almost bigger than Gary or Paige. The ending is completely different, and much more tragic. (Plus, it's longer- eight chapters instead of five.)

Update your author alerts. I'm leaving this version up, until the new version is put up in its entirety. Then this can come down. The reposting begins tonight, with a new chapter every few days or week, depending on how I feel.

Enjoy!

Sincerely Yours,

writelikeademon


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